


Apocalypse Now

by Em_i_a



Category: Rammstein
Genre: Apocalypse, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2018-12-07 02:21:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_i_a/pseuds/Em_i_a
Summary: A girl wakes up from a coma, with no recollection of anything. What caused the coma is a mystery, and why nobody was coming to her aid was something even more concerning. When she peers into the bathroom in the room, she realizes that it might be more serious than she thought.





	1. Waking Up

 A weight of pain fell onto my chest as I slowly opened my eyes, looking around at the white, blood splattered walls of a hospital room. A pang of pain shot through my head, placing my hand on my temple. 

 "Jesus Christ." I mumbled, feeling a cold breeze brush over my face, an open window. I sat up, feeling my bones crack like they haven't been used in months, I let out a groan, pushing the blanket off of me. My pale white legs had scars all over them, like I had been in an accident or something, maybe that's the reason I'm in here. I placed my bare feet on the cold ground, placing my hand on the bed to steady me, as I shuffled towards the window. Snow flakes hit my face, melting on my cheek in an instant. I gripped the boarder of the window, and stared down into the snow covered streets. I could see people hobbling across the road, a sign of life, thank god.

 "Hey! Up here!" I yelled, or at least I tried to yell. I moved away from the window, glancing over at the bathroom that was built in with the room. I dragged my hand across the wall, using it to steady me, so I didn't fall on my face. Where was all this blood from? I reached for the door knob of the bathroom, turning it in my hand, and pushing against it. The light automatically turned on, revealing a horrifying scene. A woman laid against the wall, her lips missing from her mouth, like someone ripped them off, her eyes were wide open, and her skin looked like it was torn by teeth, her hands were twitching, as she got on her knees and stood up, causing me to panic. I backed up, losing my balance instantly, falling backwards onto my back. I screamed at the top of my lungs even though it hurt, as the woman crawled towards me, grunting loudly, blood drooling down her chin, I backed up as far as I possibly could, the wall stopping me in my tracks. Her movements were quick and swift, throwing herself onto me. I yelled, putting my forearm between us, her teeth biting down together making a loud clacking, pushing against my arm. I used my other hand to push her off, which didn't help me at all, it only made her angrier. She threw herself at me again, this time she put all her weight into it, and latched her teeth onto my neck, biting down hard, breaking the sensitive skin on my neck. Unlike before the scream that fell out of my mouth was more of a grunt, like all my energy was gone. I felt everything go numb in one moment, as my eyes rolled into the back of my head, causing the world around me to go black.  

 -----

 "She's bitten are you fucking insane!" A man with a deep gravelly voice spoke, a German accent lacing his words, which pulled me out of my unconsciousness.

 "She was still breathing Till! For fuck sake, I have a conscience." Another man yelled back, his voice wasn't as gravelly as the first guy, but it was still quite deep, German also. I decided to open my eyes, and look around the room I was in. It looked like an office more than a bedroom actually. A desk was right in the middle of the room, and the room was lit enough to see a stack of records, a mirror, and a vinyl player over in the corner of the room. I glanced over at the table, seeing a glass of water with two crackers beside it. I reached over, still listening to the argument through the walls.

 "Richard you're putting all of us in danger, she's bitten, sure she might not be a flesh eater yet but soon enough she will end up like that woman." Till explained, I could hear him put something down, as he continued.

 "Now, if you're not going to kill her, I will, for our protection." My eyes widened, choking on the water that I was racing to finish. Kill!? 

 "Till we are not going to kill her. Listen, I'm going to check up on her, if she is alive, and breathing, and eating those crackers I left for her we aren't going to kill her. I will look at the bite and see what's going on with that also. Does that solve anything?" Another voice interjected, his voice was smoother, almost as deep as Tills, it definitely wasn't ‘Richard's'. 

 "Schneider you aren't going in there." Till warned. 

 "I'm armed, so I'm going in." Schneider shot back. I could hear the floor creak, as he inched towards the door. I grabbed a cracker and nibbled on it, watching the door open slowly. A man poked his head in, his dark brown hair hung over his eye slightly, glancing around the room until our eyes met, he had marvelous blue eyes. He gave me a small smile, stepping into the room fully, closing the door behind him. I brought my knees towards my chest, not smiling back at him, hoping that he wasn't going to kill me. He put his hands into his jean pockets as he walked over to me.

 "I'm guessing you heard some of that conversation?" He asked, sitting down on the couch. I didn't answer, adverting my gaze, staring at the cracker.

 "Well...Good news is you seem pretty human." He commented, reaching his hand out. I backed away, eyes wide. 

 "I'm just checking the bite." He informed me, turning my head to the side, tilting my head slightly so my neck and shoulder were fully exposed. I cleared my throat.

 "...How does it look?" It sounded like I destroyed my vocal cords.

 "It looks like a normal scar, it's still healing of course. Is it sore?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. I shook my head. He let out a sigh of relief, taking his hand off my chin.

 "What's your name?" I bit down on the cracker, chewing quickly so I could answer.

 "I don't know." I responded, taking a small sip of water. His eyebrows knitted together

 "How do you not know?" I shrugged once again 

 "I only remember waking up in a hospital bed, I don't remember how I got there, nor do I remember anything prior to that." I explained. Schneider placed his hand under his chin 

 "How about...Nova?" Nova. The name ran through my mind instantly.

 "Nova." I involuntarily repeated it out loud. He glanced over, stifling a laugh.

 "I guess you like it?" I nodded, stretching my arms, and legs out, cracking my bones. I looked down at what I was wearing, still in that nasty old hospital gown. A scowl came across my face, Schneider taking notice of this. 

 "I've got some clothes that you could wear, and if you need to wash up you could just go down the stairs, we have a pipe and some shampoo." He informed, as he stood up, and walked out of the room. I groaned loudly, placing my feet onto the cold hardwood ground, standing up slowly, my knees shaking even with what little body weight I had on me. I shuffled over to the mirror, balancing myself on the shelf that held the records. I lifted my gaze up, staring at my reflection, I couldn’t even remember what I looked like. I had dark circles under my eyes, and my lifeless green irises looked like they lost color somehow. I was dead pale, and thin, like I hadn't eaten anything in years. The bite was dried and bruised, with an outline of irritation around the mark. I sighed, running my hands through my long faded red hair. That pipe sounds really good right now. Schneider came back into the room, clothes in hand.

“How are you holding up?” He asked, staring at me from the door. 

 “Fine I guess, I think I am in need of that shower.” I scratched the back of my neck, trying not to graze the wound.

 “I’ll show you where it is then. Follow me.” He instructed, pushing himself off of the door, I shuffled over, following close behind him, as he grabbed a towel from the closet. We walked by the living room. 

 “Get her out of here.” Till spoke. I followed the voice, glancing over at the heavily built man, his piercing blue eyes burning into my soul, he wore a serious face, and his arms were crossed. 

 “She’s safe Till.” Schneider groaned “Just leave her be alright.” He added, grabbing my arm, pulling me away from Till’s harsh gaze. He opened a door, revealing a room with half the wall broken off. A pile of snow on the floor.

 “Before you get angry I’m going to warn you the water is really really fucking cold. So use as little as possible so you don’t get frost bite.” He explained quickly, leaving me in the room by myself. I looked over at the pipe, untying the hospital gown, pulling it off of my lanky body, throwing it off the side of the building. I sighed, taking my underwear off, hanging them up where the towel was. I walked over to the pipe, standing under it, placing my hand on the taps, turning the knob, the water shooting out of the pipe, full force. I yelped, shivering under the freezing cold water. I let out a shaky sigh, grabbing the shampoo bottle, pouring a little into my hand. I lathered it between my hands, as I tuned into the argument that was ensuing outside the door. 

 "She can't stay here! Just because the scar is healing doesn't mean she isn't going to change Schneider. We also don't have enough room for her! We have 6 people already!" Till scolded, that's when slight chaos erupted. A new person began to speak.

 "She needs to recover, Schneider said she can't remember anything. We need to at least help her before we fucking kick her out." The man sounded worried.

 "What if she was your daughter Till, if someone found her wouldn't you appreciate it if someone kept her safe?" Another voice spoke. 

 "Flake, chances are her parents are dead. If they weren't then she wouldn't be here with us, she would be with them." Till shot back. 

 "Then that means she has nobody...Its cruel if we just kick her out." Richard spoke, a saddened tone laced his voice. 

 "Would you rather die by getting bit by her? We're gonna wake up one morning and she would be one of those flesh eaters, then what do we do? Kill her?" Till argued back. 

 "Judging by how deep the bite was, she would've been infected by now." Flake informed. I rinsed off quickly, and turned the water off. I grabbed the towel, and dried myself off, making sure I didn't graze over the bite mark with the towel. I wrapped myself in it, and opened the door, shuffling out into the living room. Noticing that everyone was now out of their rooms, and in the kitchen, arguing about what to do with me. One guy with black spiky hair looked over at me and nudged the shorter guy beside him, who had a botched bowl cut hair. That's when it went silent, I think I could've heard the water droplets from my hair hitting the ground, as I put on an awkward smile. 

 "I will just go change and be on my way. Thank you guys for...Saving me." I shuffled away from them, and proceeded down the hallway, back into the office. I closed the door behind me, sighing as I grabbed the clothes that Schneider left on the dresser. I slid the heavy sweater over my head, pulling on the boxers the laid between the sweater and jeans. I shook my legs slightly so they hung on my hips perfectly, and pulled the jeans over them. I folded the towel, placing it on the couch, before hearing a knock at the door. Schneider opened the door, and leaned against the frame.

 "You don't have to go Nova." I shook my head, pushing my hair behind my ear.

 "I'm intruding. I think it's best that I do. Like I said, thank you for saving me and everything, but it's just not a good idea to stay." I mumbled, looking down at my bare feet. 

"I promise you aren't intruding, most of us want you to be safe, Till will come around soon enough so don’t worry about him.” Schneider replied, while I slid my hands into the front pocket of the sweater, and looked up at him. 

 "I still don’t think I should…I can’t carry my own weight around here, I don’t really like that.” I pointed out, grabbing the towel, and handing it to him. 

 “Thanks again.” I added, walking down the hall towards the front door. 

 “Before you go.” Richard interrupted, causing me to stop and turn around, spiky black haired guy. He held combat boots in his hand, giving an apologetic smile.

 “Can’t really go out there without these. It’s quite snowy, and cold…” He added, handing me the boots. I thanked him, as I placed them on the ground and slid my feet in. 

 “We hope to see you around.” Richard commented, walking away from me. Till watched me from the couch, a look of accomplishment on his face. I adverted my gaze, and turned around, leaving the apartment.

 “And the journey begins.” I uttered, running down the stairs towards the exit. I pulled the hood over my head, pushing the door open, letting the cold air hit my face. I looked around at the scenery, abandoned cars all over the road, some in great shape, too bad I didn’t have a knife. I glanced around, looking for a car to take, there were many options. One caught my attention in particular, a black Honda Civic, always reliable. I walked over to the car, grabbing the handle of the car. Hearing the ice crack as I opened the door, and stepped into the car. 

 "Wait!" Schneider yelled from the entrance of the building, as he ran over to the car. I rolled down the window, staring at him, while he dug into his pocket, quickly finding what he was looking for. He pulled a key out, holding it out to me.

 "What's this?" I questioned, staring at the shimmering key. 

 "It's a key to our apartment...If you change your mind.” He grabbed my hand, placing the key in my palm. I encased it in my closed fist, and gave him a small smile.

 "Thank you Schneider.” He nodded, backing away from the car, while I rolled up the window. I glanced over at the cup holder, finding a red Swiss Army Knife. _Bingo._ I opened the knife up, sticking it into the ignition, and twisting it in one swift motion. The car rumbled, and immediately I looked at the gas, _half full, it could get me somewhere at least._ I put the car into drive, turning the steering wheel so I wouldn't hit the car in front of me. I continued to do this, until I finally made it to an open road. My head began to spin as I felt a wave of nausea wash over me, having a sort of flashback moment. It was like an out of body experience. _I saw myself being dragged through the halls of the hospital, blood all over the gurney, as the paramedics spoke "Drunk driver, collided with her car. We tried to stop the bleeding, it just won't though."_ The flashback faded, bringing me back into the real world, my grip on the steering wheel tightened, my whole body shivering. _What the fuck._ I sat back, trying to calm myself down, _whatever that was, I do not want it to happen again._ I managed to level myself out, leaning forward again so I could continue driving. 

 "Left or right?" I whispered to myself, looking both ways, trying to see which way had the least danger, which didn't make any sort of sense because even if one direction looked safe than the other, there is no way to know what would happen during the travels. I sat back once again, biting hard on my bottom lip, nearly drawing blood. 

 "Fuck it." I mumbled, unbuckling my seat belt, and taking the knife out of the ignition, sliding it into my pocket. I opened the car door, stepping out onto the crunchy snow, seeing my breath flow out into the air. I stood up, looking around the atmosphere, it was like Rod Serling from "The Twilight Zone" was gonna come out and start a monologue, it was so quiet, even though I knew that there was people that lived still, it felt like I was alone. If I screamed no one would pay attention, and if there was any other survivors, their mindset would probably be in survival mode, which meant that I would probably die if they saw the bite mark. I closed the car door, and sighed, placing my hands into the front pocket of the sweater. _I still have to answer whether I'm going left or right._ I looked back and forth, trying to make a decision.

 "Lucky left." I answered myself, walking towards the large highway. _A different Nova has been created, sneaky Nova._


	2. Bite Me

 I didn't know how long I had been walking for, but I knew I was in a different town, or at least it felt like I was in a different town. Just by the setting I could tell that there was survivors there, corner stores looked like they had been raided, but there was an eerie feeling that there had been bad blood between everyone, like no one could be trusted. Bullets were scattered around the ground, and puddles of blood made the snow a light red, shooting fear through my cold veins. I only had a knife, my chance of surviving against a gun was slim to none. I could feel blood staining the sweater that I wore, because of the fabric getting stuck on the scab. The weather wasn't something that I worried about, knowing that my normal body heat was non-existent was a perk, because my body was used to the cold.

 As night began to fall, I knew I needed to take shelter somewhere, but I needed to take care of my hunger first. Chances are that hunger won't be satisfied, we're in the fucking apocalypse Nova Jesus Christ. Bantering interrupted my thoughts. 

 "That lady was so scared, god, she had it coming." A man explained.

 "Oh please, please don't kill me, I'll...I'll do anything!" Another man begged, mimicking the woman. 

 "She made some amazing food." Yet another man added. I slid under an abandoned car. Humanity was gone...

 "Oh I couldn't agree with you more." The man from the beginning boasted loudly. I stayed under the car, waiting for their voices to become very distant, before climbing back out. I walked around the car seeing a flickering light coming from a small convenience store. I dug into my pocket, pulling out the Swiss Army Knife, at least I have some form of defense, even if it doesn't seem too stable. It felt so quiet, the only thing I could hear is my breathing and my footsteps crushing the heavy snow beneath me. I breathed in the cool air, smelling an undeniable scent of smoke. Someone must've set something aflame, someone stupid who didn't know how to hide. I ignored it, walking towards the convenience store, I placed my hand over my mouth so I could breathe in without inhaling the scent of smoke. The door was swinging open wildly, caused by the strong winds. I stepped into the store, looking around at the nearly empty store. A bag of veggie straws caught my eye, it was on a shelf usually where the store owners would keep the cigarettes, which was an easy place to reach if I walked around the cash. I quietly tip toed around the cash, grabbing the bag. Thank goodness. I ripped the side open so it wouldn't make a crinkling noise, as I picked one of the straws and placed it in my mouth, savoring the flavor of stale veggies. I slid down behind the counter, finding a space where the owner would probably put a chair. Food and shelter, it's a deal. I slid into the space, and sat there eating the veggie straws until my stomach stopped growling. I closed the bag placing it beside me as I closed my Swiss army knife and placed it back into my jean pocket. I curled up into a ball, pulling the key out, staring at it through the flickering lighting. Schneider's voice rang through my ears "if you change your mind"  I curled my fingers around the key, clutching it to my chest, I can't go back, Till wouldn't like it. I placed my hand on the bleeding bite mark, I had no feeling left in there, I couldn't even feel pain. I pulled my hand back seeing my fingers glistening with blood. I wiped it off on the sweater, I breathed in slowly, the burning scent itching my nose, this time it had a pungent odor, like the smell of meat. I sat up, my slightly calmed state washing away as I slid out from beneath the counter. I put the key in the back pocket of my jeans, taking out the knife again. I followed the scent, trying not to get sick as I breathed it in, the irony smell of blood was working it's way into the mixture of scents. I exited through the back of the store, seeing fresh splatters of blood on the white snow. 

 "What the fuck." I whispered, walking down the alley, where the smell was becoming stronger, and the smoke became thicker, almost making everything invisible to me. I looked down at the ground, the blood splatters becoming bigger and bigger, where the fuck was all the blood coming from. That's when I tripped over something hard, which earned a whimper. It smelled like a woman, but the whimper threw me off, it sounded mangled, more gruff, and damaged. I leaned forward. 

 "M-Ms?" I stammered, trying to see through all the smoke. She coughed, and gargled like she was choking on water. As I crawled on my hands and knees trying to find her, thoughts were running through my mind. She might just want to rob me, this might be some sort of ploy, what if she was working with those men? Mother fucker. I bumped into her, this time earning a scream, I clamped my hand down on her mouth, muffling the noise. The smoke began to slowly clear, which gave me my vision back, and instantly I regretted all my thoughts, realizing what really happened. At first I noticed my usually pale hands full of blood, the puddle was around the woman who looked like she was in her mid thirties if you took away the black eyes and busted lips. I pulled my hand off her mouth, looking down at her body. I nearly vomited at the sight. She was missing part of her flesh, like someone had cut it out, I could see part of her ribs, and she was bleeding profusely. 

 "Oh my God." I looked up at her face, seeing her teeth stained with blood, immediately I tilted her head to the side, letting the liquid pour out of her mouth. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She coughed, whimpering loudly, due to the pain. The scent of flesh. "She made some amazing food." They weren't talking about a good meal that she cooked...They ate her flesh. The thought made me throw up into the snow. Humanity really was gone. 

 "Leave..." She wheezed, coughing even harder, blood splattering all over the snow. I shook my head. 

 "No I can't..." I insisted, I felt terrible, I didn't feel human watching this happen and not being able to do anything about it, I was still human. She shook her head. 

 "They're...Com-m-ming back, hide." She stuttered, my senses went on high alert, hearing the loud crunching of the snow, I scurried over behind a nearby dumpster, as I heard one of the men chuckle loudly.

 "Wow, she's still alive, what a fighter eh?" He commented, I peered from the dumpster, seeing four bulky men surrounding her. They had guns, and I'm not talking about pistols, I'm talking about swat team rifles. One of the men had a blue arm band, and wore his hair down, it was a dirty blonde, and was at a decent length, easy to pull. He kicked her in the stomach, and I could feel the bones crack on impact. I covered my mouth, letting a tear fall down my cheek. I turned away from the scene. Only hearing their disturbing conversation. 

 "Do you feel that? Huh you little bitch?!" He yelled, I could hear him kick her again as she screamed at the top of her lungs, like she was trying to run out of breath so she didnt have to be in pain anymore. 

 "Keep on kicking her Alan, keeps the blood flowing." One joked, I began to feel paralyzing pain shoot through me, like I was feeling what she was feeling. I kept my hand clamped over my mouth, trying to not scream in pain. I noticed the she wasn't screaming anymore, and the group noticed it too.  

"I think you killed her." The same man who joked, assumed this time, a serious tone lacing the sentence. There was silence, and the assumption was rejected. 

 "No she's still breathing." He informed, I heard and felt another kick, taking in a sharp breath. What the fuck is happening? I felt a few more kicks before Alan spoke again. 

 "How about a second dinner?" He laughed, I could hear a switchblade, and the crunching of the snow. I felt a sharp pain in my side, like someone was digging into my insides, tearing me apart from the inside. I could hear the men chewing, as one more stabbing pain shot through my sturum. I heard her let out a ragged last breath, and that's when all the pain faded off of me. I let out a small sigh, which caught the attention of the men.  

"Alec, check the perimeter." Alan instructed, I was able to hear where he was as he inched closer to the dumpster. I could hear him laugh under his breath, as he walked around the dumpster and made eye contact with me. 

 "My, my, Alan look at what we have here..." Alec spoke teasingly, I could hear all the men march to his location. Four pairs of eyes stared at me, all of them wore devilish smirks.

 "Wow little lady...You must be questioning everything right now." Alan giggled, like a child. He reached out, grabbing the collar of my sweater pulling me up, lifting me off the ground slightly. 

 "Ready to go down like that woman over there?" He questioned, a giant grin on his face. I felt something overflow in me, I don't know if it was rage, or something else, but I could see the grin slowly fade, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. I took this moment to place my dangling feet onto the side of the dumpster, and push off of it, sending him backwards. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and bit down on his neck, even if I wasn't infected, I would be a carrier of the infection. Thank you biology. He screamed, I could hear the men reload their guns, which gave me a couple of seconds to wrap my arm around Alan's head as I used his body to protect me from the bullets, flipping him around me. A few bullets grazed me, but it didn't mean anything right now, I pushed myself off the wall with my foot, head butting Alec in the nose, making him go down instantly. 

 "Get her Samuel!" One yelled, I stared at Samuel, wiping my mouth off. He held the gun up, shaking out of fear. I grabbed the gun, and pulled it out of his hands, hitting him in the face with the backend of it. He went down quickly, hitting the snow. I looked around for the last guy, who seemed to be missing, holding the heavy gun out in front of me. I heard a can drop, and immediately I turned around, facing where the noise came from. 

 “I swear to god if…If you come any closer I’m gonna shoot.” My fear could be heard from a mile away, I sounded like I was second guessing myself. 

 “You don’t sound so sure.” A new voice spoke, it was deep, laced with a teasing tone. Another group of men came out from the shadows, surrounding me. I glanced around, seeing that I was trapped. _Mother fucker._ I backed up, staring at the men. 

 “How about you put that gun down cause I know you won’t pull that trigger, and if you do, man you’ve got some balls.” The bulking man spoke, staring at me. 

 “Never.” I hissed, pulling the trigger quickly, backfiring instantly. The bullet missed him, _of course because I was a bad shot and full of adrenaline._

“Big mistake.” He laughed, as I began to feel lightheaded, my whole body tensed up, and I lost feeling in every inch of my body. I looked down at my chest seeing a tranquilizer dart sticking out of me. _Fuck._ I fell to the ground, the world around me being engulfed in darkness. 

 ------

 “We need more supplies!” Till yelled from the kitchen, sounding frustrated as he closed the cabinet. 

 “Schneider, Flake, Paul, it’s your turn to grab supplies from the town.” Richard informed us from his bedroom. I turned around, tearing my gaze from the sun rise, and walked into the living room of the apartment. 

 “Let’s get it over with then.” I advised, earning a loud groan from Paul and Flake. I walked over to the door, pulling my boots on, waiting for Paul and Flake. I leaned against the door, _last night I saw a large cloud of smoke, the snow, mixed with the wind, carried the scent to me, and I couldn’t forget the wave of nausea that I had in my stomach. Cannibals lived around the town that we usually get our supplies from, they were dangerous, but if you didn't engage with them they wouldn't mind you passing by once in a while to grab a few bags of chips, or cans of food, since they were just on an all meat diet, and only specifically fed on woman because they were sweeter. I only knew that information when I over heard a conversation between a couple of men, don't worry I'm not a cannibal._

"Alright Mr. Let's get it over with, are we going to leave or not?" Paul commented, motioning towards the door. Till poked his head out from the kitchen, using a kitchen knife to point it at me.

 "Don't forget to bring home some of those veggie straws, you forgot them last time, and stock up on that canned pasta, I don't know what they call it, just get it." He instructed, walking back into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes in his direction, opening the door for Paul and Flake. I stepped out into the hallway with them and closed the door behind me.

 "Can I use your key?" I asked, glancing at Paul and Flake. They exchanged a questioning gaze at each other, digging into their pockets.

 "Where's your key?" Paul quizzed, struggling to pull the key out.

 "I kinda...Gave it to Nova." I mumbled, as he handed me his key chain. I turned around and locked the door, throwing the key back to him.

 "Why?" Flake pushed the conversation while we walked down the stairs towards the exit.

 "Because I felt bad that Till basically threw her out. He didn't have a right to do that." I argued, stepping out into the cold winter air. 

 "He's paranoid but he has our safety in mind." Paul admitted, following closely behind.

 "Schneider is right though, he didn't have a right to do that. We are still human, we aren't like those cannibals out there. She might be dead now for all we know because of him." Flake broke in, glancing over at Paul as we walked down the empty road towards the town. 

 "She was in a car last time I saw her, so she might've gotten pretty far, without dying." I retorted. The walk wasn't too long, we had done this for a while, it's just become second nature to go out and grab supplies from whichever store was open, then go back to the apartment. Even if we weren't running low on things we still wanted to stock up just in case there was going to be an actual snow storm, _which is reasonable now._ We continued to walk in silence, _after this outbreak started we began to lose things to talk about, sometimes we wouldn't even talk to each other until we needed supplies, which was probably once or twice a week, depending on the week. We lost everyone basically, and we only had each other, but it wasn't the same, all the loss and hurt had gotten to us, and for a good month there was no talking at all. Then we used therapeutic methods that we learned from band therapy of course, and spoke about how we felt or how we were coping. A month after that we were on talking terms, but like I said it was and never will be the same._ We got to the outskirts of town. Paul turned around and held his own hand, rubbing them together.

 "Let's split up, I will get some more medical supplies, Schneider you get canned pasta and those veggie straws that Till wants, and Flake...Um...Just keep an eye out for other people." He instructed, walking away from us, towards a pharmacy. I glanced over at Flake, and gave him a shrug, leaving him at the road. I could see the convenience store in the distance, _veggie straws, and canned pasta here I come._ I walked around a few abandoned cars, slightly skipping to the sound of my heart beat. I opened the door of the store, and walked in, opening the backpack that I brought. I found a couple of bags of chips that were unopened, and two cans of pasta. I continued to look around the store, until I heard a loud crash. I jumped up, pulling my gun out of my pocket, pointing it in the direction of the noise. I tip toed slowly towards the sound, hiding behind a nearby wall. Another loud crash echoed through my ears, even louder than before, I could hear someone hyperventilating, and wheezing, struggling to breathe. I followed the noises, poking my head out the back door. That's when I saw it...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff hanger! Oh by the way, hello, I'm the author of this story. I apologize sincerely if the first chapter was iffy, English is not my first language. But I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. 


	3. Hurt

 Nova was curled up in a ball, the sweater that she wore was torn off basically at her shoulders and the jeans she wore were unbuttoned and almost ripped at the seams. The snow that surrounded her was drenched in what I presumed was her blood, and she was wheezing loudly, like she was trying to catch her breath, or breathe normally. Immediately I threw my gun to the side and rushed over to her. She let out a scream when my hands touched her bare shoulder. 

 "Nova it's me." I whispered, looking at the side of her face. She was paler than before, she had a busted lip, and a bruised cheek. Her arms were wrapped around herself, hiding her almost half naked body. She struggled to open her eyes, glancing at me, she tried to breathe in but was unsuccessful in doing so. I could see fresh blood staining the snow as it dripped down from her upper half. 

 "Paul! Flake! Help!" I screamed, noticing her eyes rolling into the back of her head, while her wheezing became rapid. I put my arms under her legs and back, quickly lifting her up off the ground. The sweater was separated down the center, like someone cut it open with a knife and ripped through the fabric. I could see blood pouring down the center of her chest, like a water fall. Her head tiled back, hanging over my arm. Paul ran over. 

 "Oh my God." He gasped, staring at Nova.

 "We need to get her back to the apartment, it's not looking good ." I warned, adjusting her position, so if she was going to cough up blood she wouldn't choke on it. Paul and I ran towards Flake, who was keeping look out like Paul told him to do. He turned towards us, his mouth dropping open slightly catching a glimpse of Nova. I could feel her blood soak through my sweater and jeans, _she was losing so much it._

 "Schneider we need to stop to see if we can save her, we need to assess the situation." Flake explained, trying to stay calm, I shook my head. 

 "There is no time to do that, we need to get to the fucking apartment because her blood is soaking through every piece of fabric that's on me!" I yelled, holding her closer to me as I ran through the empty road. Flake and Paul followed close behind, trying their best to keep their composure. The travel time was even less than before because of how fast I was running, knowing that every minute counts, _it's a life or death situation and I refuse to have another death on my hands_. We arrived at the apartment building. 

 "Flake take out your key." I instructed as we ran up the stairs, I counted the flights, and stopped at the fourth, running down the hallway. Flake cut in front of me and ran to the door, unlocking in one quick motion. I rushed into the apartment completely out of breath, dashing over to the room that we had her in before. 

 "What are you doing bringing her back here?!" Till's voice barked from the kitchen, I could hear his footsteps following me, as I placed her down on the leather couch. 

 "Paul grab alcohol, and gauze." I said, ignoring Till's question, I looked over at Nova, noticing why she was bleeding so badly, and what they did to her. Silver bullets ran from the top of her chest all the way down to her belly button. They weren't shot by a gun though...It would've been deeper if it was. Someone pushed them in with all the force they had, or they used something hard to do so. _Silver bullets are used to neutralize flesh eaters, it keeps them from healing, it's more of a way to make them suffer, than to put them out of their misery by shooting them in the head._

 "Bring the big tweezers and a blanket too!" I yelled, blood oozing out of all the wounds that she had. Paul and Richard ran in with the supplies.

 "Oh my God." They both said in unison, staring at the bullets that stuck out of her, I grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol, unscrewing the cap. 

 "Get out of the room, I need you guys to keep Till out of here." They both nodded and closed the door behind them, as I grabbed a cloth that was in my pocket, pouring some rubbing alcohol onto it. _Please don't wake up, please don't wake up._ I repeated that phrase in my mind, while dabbing the cloth around the first bullet, the cloth instantly soaking up her blood. _No gasp._ I moved to the next one, and the next one, and by the end of it I counted eight bullets. I turned to the side where I had the supplies, and grabbed the tweezers, disinfecting them with the alcohol. They weren't normal tweezers that you use to pluck unwanted hairs, these were paramedic grade tweezers, big enough to pull a bullet out. I placed them on the bullet that was right at the top, where her neck stopped and her chest started. 

 "I'm so sorry." I whispered, tugging at the bullet, trying to take it out as fast as I could, it budged, but it only made the bleeding worse. I wiped the blood that oozed out the sides and put the tweezers back onto the bullet again, moving it back and forth as I pulled. It began to dislodge and come out of her chest, _one wrong move and she was going to wake up._ I took the first bullet out, and placed gauze on the hole, so it would dry up the blood. I placed it onto the ground beside me, moving down to the next bullet. I glanced up at her, seeing that her busted lip was healing very slowly. _At least it was working._ I put the tweezers onto both sides, and began to move it back and forth like the one before only to get a loud gasp of pain from Nova. I pulled back instantly, looking up at her, seeing that her eyes were wide open with fear, like she didn't know where she was. 

 "Nova it's okay. It's just me." I comforted, trying to get her to come down from her panicked state. She looked down at me, tears streaming down her face. 

 "What did they do to me?" She choked, her voice laced with pain, as she looked down at herself. I didn't know what to say, because _I_ didn't even know what they did to her, I'm just seeing the aftermath of it. She looked over at me, her green eyes drowned with tears. 

 "What are you doing?" She cried, glancing down at the tweezers. 

 "I need to take the bullets out...If I don't you won't survive." I explained, adverting my gaze so I wouldn't have to look at her cry. A few times I glanced up at her, watching her wipe off the tears. She sniffed, and wheezed.

 "If I'm not going to survive, then you have to do it." She mumbled, I looked up at her.

 "So do it." She whispered. I got onto my knees, and placed the tweezers back on the bullet. I began to pull the bullet out, feeling her hand reach up and dig into my shoulder. _Had to project the pain somewhere right?_ She groaned, as I pulled the bullet out completely, letting it join with the other one. We continued this for quite sometime, until all the bullets were on the ground. Her breathing was normal now, which was a good sign, but she was still losing blood like no tomorrow. I began to place gauze on every wound that she had, trying not to make the blood clot.

 "Schneider?" Her voice was light and feathery like she was going to fall asleep. I glanced up at her, as I taped down the gauze.

 "Yeah?" I replied, raising my eyebrows at her. She took in a deep breath.

 "Why did you save me?" I stopped what I was doing, and looked up at her. She wasn't looking back, instead she was staring at the ceiling, waiting to hear my answer.

 "Why do you ask?" I wiped my hands off on my already bloodied sweater. Nova looked at me with squinted eyes.

 "I asked you first." I went back to putting the gauze down.

 "I saved you cause I wanted to." I replied, glancing up at her, giving her a shrug. 

 "Bullshit." She mumbled, pushing my hands off the gauze, as she sat up, covering the bullet holes up.

 "I'll take it from here...You should go." I nodded, knowing that she probably needed some space to figure out what happened. I backed up and opened the door, showing myself out, leaving her alone. 

 ------

 I sat on the couch, watching Schneider close the door behind him. I stared down at my ripped jeans, tears forming in the corners of my eyes, I couldn't get what happened last night out of my mind. The pain was there, and the images were playing back like a broken DVD. 

  _"Since you can't satisfy us with your flesh, you can satisfy us with your body. How about we give her an experience to remember hey boys?" Julius, the leader of the men, asked, motioning to everyone._

_"Oh but we can't just give her an experience...Let's give her something memorable." He pulled out a box of bullets, sliding it open._

_"One for every experience." He joked, taking a bullet out. I began to wiggle around, trying to escape the men's grip._

_"Aww, the fun hasn't even started and shes already wiggling around. How sad." Julius teased, getting on top of me, taking out his switch blade, dragging it down my cheek, drawing blood. He smiled._

_"What a waste of blood...Very sad I can't taste it." He whispered against my ear, his breath trailing down my neck, the blood stopped trailing down my cheek, as the cut healed. I shivered, lifting my knee quickly, hoping that he would get off, but he didn't._

_"Big mistake." He grunted, grabbing the bottom of my sweater, cutting it with the knife. I struggled against him, feeling his hands tear the sweater down the center. I closed my eyes, feeling his fingers trail up my bare chest._

_"A modern miracle." I heard one man sigh._

_"Not for long." Julius responded, smirking. He grabbed the bullet placing the tip of it at the top of my chest._

_"Hand me something hard." I stared at him, trying not to show any sort of fear, as he turned and held out his hand, a large rock being placed into it. He held the bullet straight, and slowly tapped it into my chest sending me into a spiral of pain. I struggled against him, not letting a sound out of my mouth so I wouldn't let him know that he defeated me. He left the end of the bullet poking out, so if you ran your hand over it you would feel a large bump. He smiled._

_"Now for the experience." He whispered, trailing his hands down, going under the waistband of my jeans and underwear. I moved my legs rapidly, trying to possibly get his hands out._

_"Someone come and hold her legs apart, she's getting me pissed off with all this moving around." Two men came out from the group, and took one leg each, pulling them apart. I felt Julius push a finger into me, looking me in the eyes, a tinge of shock._

_"Wow...We really do have a modern miracle...A virgin in this day and age is...Shocking. Where have you been all this time?" He smiled, I shook my head moving around as much as I possibly could. He brought his free hand down to the button of my jeans, undoing it and zipping them down. I struggled against him, as he pulled my jeans and underwear down. I guess you can fill in the blanks with what he did...Just add seven more people after that. By the end, there was blood all over my legs, and bullets trailing down the middle of my chest...Eight bullets representing each experience._

I placed my feet on the ground, standing up. I felt so much pain in between my legs, and where the bullet wounds were. Everything combined was like a cocktail of death. Tears were streaming down my face, and I had no control over them, I was only able to wipe them away. I opened the door, and shuffled down the hallway, hearing Till and Richard talking to each other.

 "She is staying. We all want her to stay, and it doesn't matter what you say, we aren't kicking her out ever again." Richard informed him.

 "Fine...But if something happens it's on all you guys...You know that right?" He warned him.

 "Yes. I know." He agreed. I limped towards the bathroom, trying to keep my movements slow and steady. I glanced over at Till who was giving me a small, concerned look. Which was something completely different than the serious face he had the last time I made eye contact with him. 

 "You alright?" He asked from the couch, causing Richard to turn around and look at me also. I gave them a small nod, holding onto the kitchen counter, shuffling across the hardwood floor. I heard Richard get up and walk over to me, picking me up. I groaned in pain, hearing him open the door of the washroom.

 "I'll grab you a towel." I nodded, as he walked out, grabbing a towel from the closet. He hung it up on the towel rack, and gave a small comforting smile.

 "If you need anything just tell us." He informed, closing the door behind him. I took off the dirty jeans, and disgusting underwear, wishing that I could burn them. I took the destroyed sweater off and threw it to the side, feeling my knees become gelatin. I dropped down slowly, crawling over to the faucet. I reached up and turned the cold water on, letting it rain down on me, hoping that it would wash off the feeling of disgust. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, wishing I could just move on from it, but I knew it was impossible. I reached up and grabbed the bottle of body wash, putting a little bit of the soap into my hands, scrubbing the dried blood off from the insides of my thighs. I let a little whimper escape from my lips, as I ripped the gauze off the bullet wounds, and laid down on the cold ground, curling up into a ball. I closed my eyes, trying to freeze the pain away. 

 "Modern miracle my fucking ass." I cried, holding myself tightly. I don't know how long I laid there, but I know it was long enough to earn a concerned knock from someone. 

 "Nova...If you don't come out you're gonna freeze in there." Schneider cautioned. I turned over to face the wall, letting the cold water flow down my back. I just ignored him, and stared down at the swirls of blood in the water, as it traveled around me and went down the drain. I slowly closed my eyes, falling asleep in the process I guess.

 ------

 I sat outside the bathroom, hoping that maybe she would come out, but she didn't. 

 "If you're that worried just poke your head in." Richard suggested. I stood up, and opened the door of the bathroom. I saw Nova laying on the ground with her back facing away from me. I gulped, and walked in grabbing the towel off the rack. I unraveled it, and walked towards her, turning off the cold water so I wouldn't get wet. I wrapped her in the towel, and lifted her up, this time I walked by the office, _deciding that I would room there instead of her being on the uncomfortable couch,_ and brought her to my room, placing her under the covers of my unmade bed. I sighed, and stared at her, pulling the covers up to her neck, pushing her wet hair out of her face. She let out a heavy breath, turning over. Which was my cue to let her get some rest, and leave the room, closing the door behind me. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.


	4. Pieces

I felt someone shake my shoulder lightly, softly mumbling my name.

"Hey...Sleepy head. Wake up." Schneider's voice rang through my ears. I groaned, a mixture of pain and exhaustion escaping my lips, as I turned over. Schneider sighed, and shook my again.

"Come on, we made some food, and it'll be gone if you don't get up." I put the pillow over my head. Wait, pillow. I stopped for a moment, and shot up, holding the sheets against me.

"What room am I in?" I wondered, glancing over at him. He motioned towards our surroundings

"Mine..." He replied, getting up from the bed. I followed him with my gaze, as he walked over to his dresser. With what little light we had, I could see a couple of picture frames on it, and I took the time to squint and stare at them while he dug around the dresser, pulling out a pair of boxers, jeans, and a t-shirt. I noticed a picture of him holding a baby, smiling brightly, he looked happy. I couldn't help but smile lightly at the photo, and at the baby of course.

"Here's some clothes that you can change into." He placed them in front of me, and backed up, noticing the small smile on my lips.

"You alright?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah. I'm fine...I guess I'm just feeling better." I shrugged, he gave a little nod, and returned the smile, leaving the room so I could change. Once he closed the door, I pushed the covers off of me, and slowly stood up from the comfy bed. Pain shooting through my lower half, I hissed, grabbing the boxers from the mattress. I shook as I lifted my leg and slid it into one of the openings, I did the same with the other, and pulled them up. I let out a shaky sigh, and grabbed the blue t-shirt, pulling it over my head. The bullet holes just looked like someone burned me, but as long as they weren't bleeding, I didn't care what they looked like. I grabbed the jeans, and pulled them on. A small knock interrupted me.

"Come in." I mumbled, turning around to face the door. Richard poked his head in.

"You alright?" I nodded.

"Yeah why wouldn't I be." I questioned, trying to keep a look of pain off my face while I buttoned the jeans. Richard walked in, sitting down on the bed.

"Oh I don't know. Maybe because you looked like you were going to collapse in pain yesterday when you were trying to go take a shower." He implied, motioning towards me. I leaned on the dresser.

"Well maybe it was because I just had eight bullets pulled out of me. Ever thought that was the reason why I looked like I was going to collapse?" I shot back. Richard dropped his eyebrows, giving me a serious, and slightly grumpy looking face.

"Listen...Don't try to play me, there's something else bothering you. My dad senses might be rusty...But they're still there." He tapped his head. I lifted myself up off the dresser, placing my butt on it, hissing at the same time.

"Like I said. Nothing is wrong." His blue eyes scanned over me, squinting at my tensed position.

"Whatever happened....It's going to come out soon enough." He stood up, from the mattress "Now come out for dinner, and remember if you need to talk you've got me, Schneider, Flake, Paul, and Oliver." I gave him a little nod, showing him that I understood what he was saying, as I hopped off the dresser, following him out the room.

"We never did that!" I could hear Till laugh.

"Yes we did. Can you not remember?" Flake questioned, while I took a seat beside Schneider at the kitchen island. Noticing a plate with some canned vegetables and a small portion of pasta on it. The conversation basically went silent as soon as Flake finished. I picked up the fork that laid on the right side of the plate, glancing up, seeing three pairs of eyes staring at me.

"Um...I think I'm gonna eat on the balcony." I mumbled, grabbing the plate off the island. I left the kitchen and walked across the living room towards the door of the balcony, sliding it open. The cool winter air hitting my face as I stepped out onto the snow filled lookout.

"Oh hey." Paul greeted. I turned around, seeing him sitting on one of the chairs that was placed beside the table.

"I was expecting you to be inside with the rest of the guys." He mumbled.

"I should be saying that to you." I replied, taking a seat on the other side of the table.

"Too loud for you in there?" He asked, taking a bite of a baby carrot. I shook my head.

"I just feel...Awkward I guess." I gave a small shrug, picking a bean up from the plate, nibbling at it slowly, so my stomach could get used to the solid, better tasting food.

"You shouldn't let them get to you like that, they're getting used to another person moving in. Especially Till, and Flake." He explained.

"But why?" I took another bite of the bean.

"I don't know. We're just so used to it being us six, but they will come around soon enough. Me, Richard, and Schneider like you, but I try to avoid the whole...Confrontation scene, the other two are completely up for fighting with them though." He replied, I'm glad he's being honest at least. I looked at the view, chewing on a piece of pasta. A small bout of silence came over us for a little bit, as we stared at the cotton candy colored sky, the sun fading behind the clouds. A harsh pain ran through my brain, sending me into a flashback, like what happened when I was in the car.

_"She's so young, she's twenty two Tim. She's in a deep coma, and it's all my fault!" A woman cried. I could feel her hand on mine, holding it tight enough that I could feel my bones crack._

_"Saundra...It isn't your fault...Trust me, it could've happened to anyone." He said, trying to calm her down._

_"Now we have to abandon her." She cried even harder, feeling her teardrops fall onto my hand, sliding down my palm. I heard the door being knocked on._

_"Mam...We're evacuating, I promise that the emergency nurses will transfer her to Belgium as soon as possible." A man spoke. Only making her cry more than before._

_"Tim please." She begged, and pleaded, and that's when I felt her hand leave mine._

_“Nova!” I heard Paul’s voice, shaking me slightly._

“Nova Jesus Christ.” He shook my harder, snapping me out of the flashback. I placed my hand on my chest, breathing heavily. Paul rubbed my back gently.

“Is Belgium a safe haven?” I asked, looking over at Paul, who stopped rubbing my back. It was like he was thinking about his answer, like he was choosing whether to hide something or not.

"...No." The answer fell off his lips, and I could feel my heart break, just a little.

"Are you being serious, or are you just trying to get me to forget about it so we don't have to go there?" He stared at me, shaking his head.

"It was wiped out Nova. If you really want to go there you could go, but you're only going to be filled with disappointment just like we were." I glanced over at him, taking another green bean, this time eating the whole thing.

"When di-"

"We were there right at the beginning with our families and left with nothing but each other. Does that answer your question?" He snapped, like it was a touchy subject, which it was, they lost everything, including family you idiot.

"Yes...I'm sorry I brought it up." Paul's facial expression softened, slightly apologetic.

"Its okay...You didn't know..." I looked down at my plate, and held it out to him.

"I've lost my appetite, want the rest?" A confused look appeared on his face, staring at the plate of food.

"You need food. So eat." He pushed it back to me, standing up.

"I'm just going to put my plate in the sink, I'll be back." I gave him a small nod, while he walked away.

\------

I opened the sliding door, walking straight into the kitchen, hearing another argument between Till, Flake, Schneider, and Richard. Oliver sitting out as usual.

"You guys better get used to her being around, because I'm starting to hate how you're making her feel." Schneider stated, standing up from his stool, leaving the kitchen.

"Something is wrong with her, but you guys are soooo distracted by your own personal problems that you don't see it!" Richard yelled, throwing his fork into the sink, nearly hitting me in the process.

"Well maybe you should take a page out of our book! It isn-"

"Guys! Just shut up for one fucking minute!" I interjected, slamming my hands down on the table. They all jumped at the sudden change of attitude from me.

"She knows about Belgium...And she's going to go...I fucking feel it. So she won't be staying. Does that solve your fucking selfish problems!?" I whisper yelled, walking out of the kitchen.

"Paul! Wait!" Richard followed me out.

"What?" I asked rolling my eyes, turning around to face him.

"How does she know about Belgium...Did you tell her what happened there?" I stared at him, rubbing my forehead.

"What does it matter?" Richard raised his eyebrows.

"It matters because if she goes there and finds the ruins of that place she is going to be emotionally traumatized even more than now." He explained.

"What the hell do you want me to do Richard? Do you want me to tell her how you lost your kids? Want me to spill the beans about Till losing his kids and his grandson? How about telling her how Schneider lost his little boy, his baby, and his wife? Want me to just pour a bunch of our emotional traumatic experiences into a cup and let her fucking drink it? Hmm?" I shot back, leaving Richard standing in the hall in shock from my outburst.

\------

I sat on the railing of the balcony, trying to see where the sun was going, when I heard the door slide open.

"Sorry I took so long." Paul mumbled, pulling a chair up beside the railing, so he was sitting beside me.

"You know...I heard you guys arguing...I just want to say thanks for breaking them up." I admitted. He gave a little nod, staring at the sun going down. At that moment it felt normal, like the world wasn't a complete hell hole...Like nothing ever happened. We sat there for quite sometime in silence, as the sky began to turn dark, and night fell upon us.

"I think we should go back in. We're going out for a huge supply run tomorrow, and it's going to be an early one." Paul beamed with fake excitement, while I lifted my legs and placed them back onto the concrete of the balcony. I limped behind Paul trying to ignore the pain that seemed to be coming back again, I closed the door behind me, stepping into the apartment. Paul walked off, leaving me in the living room with Till, who was reading a poetry book.

"Hey." I greeted, noticing him glance up from his book slightly. I shuffled over to the couch that he was on, and took a seat on the opposite end, my eyes still looking at him. I heard breath out heavily, as he turned a page.

"You know, your stare is burning a hole in the side of my face." He mumbled, I tore my gaze away from him, looking forward.

"I know you hate me, and I know you want me out, and I will leave, believe me, but at least give me a reason why you're doing this." I begged for an answer, hoping that maybe he would come to his senses and change his mind about how he was acting.

"Ich hab' Keine Lust." He replied, flipping another page of the book. He doesn't feel like it. What a childish answer. I stood up from the couch and limped over towards the hallway, gaining enough energy to step over Till's feet. I shuffled over to the office, knocking on the door, before entering. I popped my head in, seeing Schneider laying on the couch, reading a book, with a blanket over him. He glanced up at me smirking.

"What's up?" I shrugged.

"I just wanted to grab a book, since everyone in this place has one." Schneider chuckled, pointing towards the large bookshelf.

"Be my guest." He continued to read, as I walked over to the bookshelf, looking at the large collection of books. They were all dark, and some were in German, which I was fluent in, thank goodness. I found one book that stood out though, and stood up on my tip toes to reach it. Once I finally pulled the book down, a searing pain shot through my side, causing me to hiss in pain.

"You alright?" Schneider asked, sitting up from the couch. I placed my hand on the side of my stomach, giving him a small nod, while limping towards the door.

"Nova...You're not okay." I looked over at him, seeing a panicked look in his eyes.

"Schneider...I'm fine okay. Don't worry." He didn't take the hint, and kept pressing.

"There's something else bothering you Nova...I can tell you're hiding something, I'm good at spotting people that are lying." I stared at him.

"I'm not lying Schneider!" I exclaimed. He shook his head.

"Tell me his name." I blinked in shock, how did he know.

"You don't have to go into details. You don't have to tell me what they did. Just tell me his name." I leaned back onto the dresser.

"...Julius. His name was Julius." I admitted, rubbing the side of my arm nervously.

"And his men..." I added, trying not to look at Schneider.

"That's all you had to say." He mumbled. What was the point in telling him what his name was, did he just want to make me feel embarrassed. I pushed off the dresser and opened the door to leave when I heard Schneider's voice.

"Nova...Es tut mir leid..." I stopped in my tracks, and looked over at him.

"What are you sorry for?" I asked, my eyebrows raised with curiosity.

"For letting you leave. For not stopping you when I had the chance." He could've continued listing it but I raised my hand.

"What happened, happened. There is no need for you to be sorry, I walked into it." I mumbled.

"Now I'm gonna go before I talk your ear off or something. Um...Goodnight." I added. He gave a forced smile.

"You could talk my ear off all night if you wanted to...I wouldn't mind...The door is always open if you need to talk...Get some sleep Nova." I nodded, closing the door.

"Hey Nova." Richard whispered, motioning me to come over to the kitchen. A confused look came up on my face, but I went over anyways.

"What?" I asked, my eyebrows raised.

"You aren't thinking of going to Belgium are you?" My eyes widened, caught off guard by the question. I don't know how to answer that, what am I supposed to say "Yes I'm going to Belgium cause I want to know if my parents survived, even though Paul already told me that they probably didn't."

"Um...No...Paul just mentioned it to me, but I'm not thinking of going there." I lied. Richard let out a sigh of relief.

"Good...I'm glad...Its very dangerous over there, and we don't want to lose you permanently." What makes him think I wouldn't come back? I didn't want to push the conversation, so I just gave him a nod, and went back to my room. I turned on the light and took off my jeans, crawling into the unmade bed. I placed the book down beside me as I lifted the blankets up to my neck and got comfy, preparing myself for a night of reading.

\------

I laid on the couch reading a book that had excerpts from newspapers, trying to piece together where scientists went wrong, when I heard a loud screech coming from Nova's room. Immediately I got up from the couch, and closed the book, quickly dashing to her room within the minute. I opened the door, seeing her thrashing around on the bed, like she was struggling against something.

"No not again! Please just let me go!" She cried, and pleaded, letting out a guttural sounding scream. I felt a tear slip out the corner of my eye, wiping it off with the back of my hand, as I walked over to her. I laid down on top of the covers, and placed my arms around her trying to stop her rapid movements. Her cries were loud, and filled with pain, and the only thing I was able to do was lay there and listen...Waking someone up from a bad dream has never really worked for me. Usually they got very angry at me, so I figured out a way to stop it without waking them. Eventually Nova stopped thrashing around, but her cries didnt. They turned more into sobs than it just being whimpers. I hushed her, trying to provide some sort of comfort by reassuring her that everything will be alright. Then finally her harsh cries were calming down, and the only thing I could feel was a waterfall of tears soaking through my shirt. That's when I felt her arms pop out from under the blankets, and wrap around my torso. Her warmth radiated onto me as she nuzzled herself into my chest so she could cry some more in slight privacy. We stayed like this for quite sometime, until I began to doze off, trying to stay awake so I could leave before she woke up. It didn't work, and within five minutes I was out like a light, wrapped up in Nova's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are liking the story so far. This was a little bit of a filler, but it will pick up by the next chapter :)


	5. The Rammstein Family?

 "Does anyone know where Schneider is, he isn't in his room." Till looked up from his book and shrugged.

 "Probably outside or something. Go wake up Nova so she can come out with us. If she's going to stay, she needs to pull her own weight." He commented, waving me off. Sometimes I wish I could throw something at him. I turned around and walked down the hallway towards Nova's room. 

 "Morning Richard." Paul mumbled, shuffling past me. I greeted him back, and continued walking, arriving at her bedroom door, lightly knocking before pushing the door open. My eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness of the room.

 "Hey Nova it's time to ge-." I stopped midway through my sentence, noticing that I wasn't just waking her up.

 "Schneider?" I whispered, turning on the light, revealing him on top of the covers, holding Nova against his chest. I could see her arms wrapped around him also, his chin resting on her head. What the hell is going on? I backed up, out of the room, noticing Paul coming out of the bathroom. Immediately motioning him to come over and witness this scene, just to confirm that I wasn't hallucinating. Paul walked over, rubbing his eyes.

 "Yeah? What is it?" He widened his eyes, trying to wake himself up. I motioned towards the door.

 "See for yourself." A small confused look appeared on his face, as he moved around me, pushing the door open slightly. A gasp escaping his lips, laughing slightly.

 "Well I guess we found Schneider." He joked, crossing his arms. Flake stepped out of his room, noticing us looking into the room.

 "What are we lo- Oh..." He smirked, noticing Schneider and Nova. 

 "How adorable." That's when Oliver came over. 

 "Jesus Christ, this isn't a show, leave them alone." He mumbled, rolling his eyes. 

 "Guys! Have you woken her up yet!?" Till yelled. We could hear him push himself up off the couch, and stomp over to where we were. Looking over our heads, seeing what we were looking at. 

 "Oh for fuck sake." He pushed us out of the way.

 "Wake up! Both of you! Now!" He yelled, Schneider shot up quickly, taking his arms off of Nova. The sudden movement woke her up also, which left them both sitting up, looking at us. Then they glanced over at each other, then back at Till. 

 "Sorry." Schneider mumbled to her, getting up from the bed, pushing by us. Nova's eyes following him out. We looked over at her, seeing that she was embarrassed. I reached out, and pulled Till out of the room. 

 "Huge supply run today, get changed and stuff, we will meet you outside." I explained, closing the door behind me. 

 ------

 I threw the covers off of me, and walked over to the dresser, pulling the top drawer open. I grabbed sweat shirt and changed into it, then picked up the jeans I had on last night and pulled them on, looking over at the pocket knife I had the night I went out by myself, I grabbed it, placing it in my back pocket. I glanced at the pictures on the dresser, noticing another one I didn't see before. I picked it up, seeing a woman, with pinned up hair, a veil trailing down her back. She wore a stunning wedding dress, holding a little boy, Schneider stood beside them, dressed in a suit and tie, smiling brightly at the both of them. My mind raced, questions arising about where they might be. A small knock came from the door, interrupting my train of thought. I quickly placed the frame down on the dresser, and opened the door, revealing Schneider leaning against the door frame.

 "I just need to quickly grab a shirt." I nodded, moving out of his way so he could come in. He brushed past me, opening up the top dresser. 

 "Sorry about last night...You were having a nightmare...And I didn't really know what else to do..." He mumbled. I gave him a small shrug, quickly tearing my eyes off of him when he took his shirt off. 

 "Um...It's alright. I didn't really care or mind, it was just to shut me up so you guys could get some sleep." I felt the heat creep up onto my cheeks, as he laughed at my awkwardness. He walked past me, pulling a long sleeved shirt over his body, as he left the room.

 "You coming?" He asked, turning around, fixing his shirt so it went over the waistband of his jeans. I stared absentmindedly, not really hearing what he said. 

 "Nova?" He snapped his fingers in front of my eyes causing me to snap out of my daydream.

 "Yeah, yeah I'm coming." Following him to the front door. He handed me my pair of boots, I grabbed them from his hands, sliding them over my bare feet. We exited the apartment, and I waited for him to lock the door, noticing a large scar on his arm. 

 "Where did you get that from?" He glanced down at what I was asking about, and let go of the door knob. 

 "We were in Belgium at the time, things were starting to overcrowd, everyone was flocking to get in. Somehow someone brought in the virus, and it didn't show up in the blood test. It began to spread very slowly, and it was really hard to notice it. People were quietly going crazy, but everyone was blinded by the feeling of security, me included...So one day after grabbing some food for my family, I came home, thinking that maybe my wife went out also and just wasn't home...I went into our room, and...I found her, cutting the side of her mouth with a knife, and when she saw me, she just freaked, there was just a complete mix of emotions on my side, I didn't want to leave her, I just wanted to try to save her, but her eyes were lifeless, and I knew there was nothing else I could do." We arrived at the exit, and stopped, so he could finish the story.

 "She ran up to me, full force, and sliced my arm open, and the only thing that I could muster up the courage to do was push her away." He explained, staring off into space as if he was remembering everything. I felt terrible for asking him, without thinking about the memories that it might bring up. 

 "I'm sorry you had to go through that...It must've been so hard." He gave a small nod, with a bleak look on his face, taking a deep breath, before opening the door, holding it for me. I stepped out, feeling the air wash over me, the snow crushing under my boots. 

 "There's going to be a lot of walking today, and we plan on making it back by night time, so you better keep up." Till growled, gazing at me. He turned around and began walking, all of us following behind him. There was no talking, mostly because they were paying attention to their surroundings, some of them whispered to each other, but other than that there wasn't a conversation going throughout the group. This happened for quite sometime, until we heard a gun shot, echoing in our direction. We all split up, taking shelter behind all the ruble that was scattered throughout the street. I took cover behind a destroyed car, trying to keep myself hidden. From where I sat I could see Till taking his handgun out, in addition to the knife he was holding. I pulled the Swiss Army knife out of my pocket, staring at the blade.

 "We know you have the girl!" A voice called out, echoing through my ears, making me feel sick immediately. Julius.

 "Give her to us, or we'll kill every single one of you guys." He warned, I could hear the snow crunching under his heavy footsteps, only getting closer to us. I could only do one thing to keep them all safe. I glanced down at the pocket knife, shoving it up my sleeve. I clenched the knife in my hand, trying to keep it hidden as I slowly stood up. I could feel everyone's eyes go on me, while I raised my arms and placed my hands behind my head. Walking over to the group of men, Julius's eyes looking me up and down. He had stubble, and his lip was bruised and scarred over, from two nights before. His gaze made me uncomfortable, and I could feel the disgust coming back, as he reached his arm out.

 "Look at you...It's been two days, and you're looking great." He laughed, wrapping his arm around me.

 "But we're not here for that." He whispered, placing a gun on my back.

 "What do you want? Why are you here?" I asked, letting the knife slide down my hand.

 "We're here to bleed you dry…Remember you bit me? I didn't get infected, yet you were bit." He explained, placing a light kiss on my neck. I moved my head away from him.

 "You're not going to lay a fucking finger on her." Richard swore, pointing his gun at Julius, which caused seven men to pull their weapons out, aiming at him. I stared at him, seeing a reassuring smirk on his face. Schneider stood up next, then Till, followed by Paul, Oliver, and Flake. All of them choosing a person to aim at.

 "Wow...You brought all these men to defend you...Which one did you fuck to convince them to let you stay?" He questioned, looking up at them.

 "She didn't have to sleep with anyone..." Schneider spoke. Julius turned to look at him.

 "So I'm guessing it's you." He retorted, breathing down my neck. Schneider glanced at me, as I felt the gun move upwards behind my shoulder, causing me to shiver. Tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

 "How about a round two with me then, since you’re still mine?" He laughed against my ear. I shook my head rapidly, letting tears fall down my face. He took his free hand, brushing it down my stomach, unbuttoning my jeans.

 “Get down on your hands and knees.” He growled, tears began to fall down my cheeks as I slowly dropped down. Once I got down on my knees, I opened the palm of my hand placing the knife into the snow, preparing myself to attack, when a loud bang shoot through my ears, a heavy thump following soon after, snow scattering on the top of my head. I glanced up, seeing Till walking out from behind the car. 

 “Get behind the car Nova.” I crawled across the snow, getting behind Schneider’s car, buttoning up my jeans. 

 “You shoot one bullet, and I can assure you that you guys won’t make it out.” Till threatened.

 “So I suggest you fall back or else you will end up looking like this.” He added. 

 “Give her to us and we will do what you say.” I glanced up at Schneider, who was shaking his head. The long pause worried me, like Till was actually contemplating the offer, he wanted me gone, and this was an offer to get rid of me. 

 “No…”  Till replied, simply. Everyone still held their guns up.

 "Fine...If you want to be like that, don’t say we didn’t try to give you an easy way out. You better watch your back Till.” The man warned, the snow crunching in the opposite direction. A wave of relief washing over me, knowing that they were out of our range. Schneider helped me up, I gave him a small nod, wiping the snow off my jeans.

 “Fucking idiots.” Till mumbled, putting his gun back into the waistband of his jeans, glancing over at Richard, who was staring at him with a shocked expression.

 “Do you know what you just did?” He laughed nervously, running both his hands through his hair.  

 “He started it by pointing the gun at Nova, so I ended it by shooting him in the head, simple as that.” Till replied, as he walked away from the rest of the group. 

 “Well…You must’ve grown on him…” Paul looked over at me, pulling his hat down over his ears. 

 “I guess so.” I whispered, following closely behind Schneider. We continued our journey to the town that we were going to get our supplies from, it might not even be a town actually, it looked like we were getting further and further away from what would’ve been the main cityscape, and going more towards the country side. Wherever we were going, it was going to be far. 

 ———Time jump———

 It began to snow lightly once we arrived at a fairly large house, on the side of a dried out wheat field, the feeling of the group changed, it was more of a relaxed state that they were in, instead of their usual serious tone. We walked up the entrance way, Till stepping up onto the door step, with us behind him. I peaked over Schneider’s shoulder, seeing Till knock on the door. 

 “Are you guys just being polite, or does someone actually live here?” I whispered, Schneider grinned.

 “Jonas is our friend and supplier. When we need to restock he’s the person who has it all.” He explained, as the door swung open. revealing a pale man, with long black hair. He opened his arms.

 “I heard some amazing news that you murdered Julian, and his people have some bounties on you.” He motioned to Till.

 “And a girl…Who might be the miraculous cure to this hell hole.” He added, chuckling.

 “He can also be overly dramatic at times.” Schneider whispered. 

 “Oh where are my manners? Come on in my friends. I’ve missed you guys.” He opened the door wider moving out of the way. Everyone walked in, and by the luck of the draw, I was the last one to enter. Jonas held his hand out.

 “You must be the cure…I’m Jonas.” He introduced himself. I shook his hand.

 “Nova.” I corrected him, his eyebrows raising.

 “Interesting name, very…Futuristic…Your parents must've been ahead of their time. Come on in.” He let my hand go, and moved over, motioning me to come in. 

 "Actually I couldn't remember my real name...Schneider made it up." I explained, looking around the rustic house. Paintings hung on the walls, and the living room was huge, with different sized couches, that still looked in pretty good shape.

 "Naming girls eh?" Jonas joked, nudging Schneider as he walked by, causing him to blush. Taking a seat on the armrest. 

 "What have you guys been up to this past week, apart from adopting a new member of the Rammstein family." A confused look appeared on my face, glancing over at the group of guys who were wide eyed, like Jonas admitted to murdering someone. 

 "Rammstein family?" I asked, puzzled. Jonas looked over at them, his eyebrows raised.

 "She doesn't know?" The group glanced over at him all at the same time, shaking their heads in unison.

 "Know what?" Were they part of a gang? Were they murderers? Maybe that's why Till was so angry that I was a permanent resident.

 "Gotta show her now, she's curious." Jonas stood up, placing his arm over my shoulders.

 "Follow me." He walked up the stairs, I followed closely behind. We walked down a narrow hallway, stopping at the first door on the left. This is it, this is probably where they hide the dead bodies, Jesus Christ. He pushed it open, revealing a room full of vinyls. Wow way to jump to conclusions Nova. I let out a sigh of relief.

 "What does this have to do with the 'Rammstein Family'?" I quote unquoted putting bunny ears over the Rammstein Family. Jonas chuckled, glancing over at me, while he walked over to his vinyl shelf, pulling out a record sleeve that had a heart on it. He handed it to me. 

 "Liebe ist Fur Alle Da." I mumbled, love is for everyone, I stared up at Jonas a confused look drawn on my face. He smirked, taking the vinyl out of my hands, taking the record out of it's sleeve, walking over to his old, fifties style player, placing it onto the turntable. 

 "This my dear, will blow your mind." He handed me the headphones, and took out the lyric sheet, I could follow along, and walked out. I put the headphones on, hearing the song slowly fade in. It was such a slow build up, that my mind tuned into immediately. An operatic voice began to sing, slowly drawing me into the song, and all of the sudden, it exploded, with a blasting guitar, and heavy drums, that's when I knew I was in for an adventure. I sat back, reading the lyrics, only stopping to turn over the vinyl. Jonas came in once in a while to check up on me, asking if I was liking it, only getting a thumbs up because I was so focused on what the singer was saying. What does this have to do with them though? The last song closed it off so well, it left me sitting staring off into space. It was beautiful in it's own...Heavy metal way. I took my headphones off, breathing out like I wasn't breathing throughout the duration of the album. Jonas poked his head in, smiling at me. 

 "I'm going to guess that you liked it?" I nodded rapidly, placing the vinyl back into the sleeve.

 "But what does this have to do with anything that we were talking about?" I questioned. Jonas laughed loudly, sitting on the couch opposite of me. I stared at him with a serious look, waiting for him to compose himself. 

 "You really don't recognize the voice?” I shook my head, looking at the cover.

 “Does Till ring a bell?” My eyes widened.

 “Holy shit…Really?” I glanced up from the slip, seeing him nod rapidly. 

 “He’s good eh? Paul and Richard played guitar, Oliver played bass, Schneider plated the drums, and Flake played synth…They sold out shows, and man they were big in the industrial metal scene.” I stared at the vinyl.

 “Is this the only album they had?” He shook his head, standing up from his seat, walking back to the vinyl shelf. He pulled out five records, handing them to me. 

 “That’s a lot…” 

 “Well…If you want you can take them. They have a vinyl player, and you can take the headphones too if you want I don’t really need them since I don’t have to use them.” I smiled at him, shaking my head.

 “No it’s alright…” Jonas smiled.

 “If you say so…If you want you can stay up here and listen to them while I get the supplies ready for you guys, sound good?” I nodded, he flashed a smile, and walked out of the room, leaving me to listen to the rest of their discography. 

 ------

 Jonas came down, and walked into the kitchen.

 “She’s a very sweet girl…She seems too healthy to be the cure tho.” We watched as he brought out some water bottles for us, handing them to us.

 “When Richard and I found her she was bitten, and convulsing. We thought she was infected already, but she looked fine. We checked her eyes and everything, there was no sign of that dead blue… So we took her in.” I explained, taking a sip of the water.

 “She also heals, extremely fast.” Richard added. Jonas sat down. 

 “We could ask her to give us a blood sample…I still have the chemical that tests the blood. We might also be able to find what might be fighting it off…” I glanced up at him, shaking my head.

 “I don’t think she will enjoy being poked and prodded with needles.” All the guys looked over at me, with smirks on their faces. 

 “We’re not going to just stab her with the needle, we’re going to ask first…” Jonas laughed, getting up from his seat.

 “Come help me grab some stuff.” He said motioning at me. I stood up, following him down into the basement. 

 “So you like the girl…” He stated, turning on the flickering light, grabbing an empty box. I shook my head,  taking an empty box for myself also. He glanced over at me, as I grabbed some cans of fruit. 

 “…Why would you think that?” I questioned, placing the cans into the box.

 “Oh I don’t know…Maybe it’s the fact that you brought her back to the apartment and risked your  life.” I blushed a little, pinching the bridge of my nose. 

 “She’s a very nice girl…I…I don’t know though.” I looked away from him, grabbing a few cans of soup.

 “Well it’s either you like her or you don’t.” He explained. 

 “I want to protect her.” Jonas glanced over at me, with a serious face.

 “That’s part of liking someone. You feel like you’re obligated to protect her. You don’t want someone to hurt her, or poke her with needles, and I can see it, it’s obvious to me.” I sighed, continuing to fill the boxes, not continuing the conversation. That’s when the lights went out.

 “Fuck.” Jonas mumbled. 

 “Guys can you find some candles, light them and bring them down so we can get up the stairs without breaking our necks.” He yelled. 

 “Power outage?” I questioned, into the darkness.

 “Yeah…I think there might be a snow storm or something.” He groaned. Well I guess we aren’t going back tonight. I heard the door open, and saw a light at the top of the stairs. Jonas walked up, me following behind. We placed the boxes onto the table.

 “Has anyone looked outside?” Nova asked, as she rushed down the stairs towards the window, drawing back the curtains. 

 “Oh for fuck sake…” Till mumbled, rubbing his head, staring at the snow storm that was occurring outside. We really aren’t going back tonight. 

 “It’s so beautiful out there.” Nova exulted, leaving the house. We watched her through the window, as she threw herself down onto the snow. 

 “I guess you guys will be staying here for a little while. I’ve got two couches and three spare beds…So better choose bedrooms now. Oh and by the way Schneider is already rooming with Nova so…” I looked over at him, my face turning red. I could feel everyone stare at me, they’re eyes burning the side of my cheek.

 “So you do have a crush on the girl!” Richard exclaimed, chuckling.

 “This girl is probably half your age.” Paul added.

 “You’ve only known her for two…Maybe three days.” Flake stated.

 “Hav-“ I interrupted before Oliver can say something.

 “Guys, just shut up for one moment. I don’t like her in that way ok? It doesn’t matter if we’re rooming together, so shush.” 

 “Sure you don’t.” Till mumbled, looking back outside at Nova, her faded red hair was able to be seen through the snow fall.

 “She must be really fucking cold.” Richard commented, all of us observing her. The snow began to come down even harder, and she stayed out there for more than thirty minutes before coming back inside. She took her boots off, grabbing a towel that Jonas had hung on the coat rack for her, drying her hair off. 

 “I’ve never seen someone so excited about the snow.” Till pointed out. Nova shrugged 

 “I guess I like the cold weather. Um…Jonas do you have some spare clothes?” She asked quietly. 

 “Yeah sure, I’ll find you some.” Jonas walked by me, with a candle in hand, and led Nova up the stairs.

 ------

 Jonas opened a door shining the candle into the room. 

 “The dresser has loads of clothes, so…Choose whatever you want to wear I guess.” He explained, placing the candle on the dresser.

 “Oh and by the way you will be rooming with Schneider tonight, we have limited space…So we have to double up, is that okay?” Rooming…With Schneider…I nodded. 

 “Yeah…That’s fine with me.” 

 “How old are you by the way?” I glanced over at him, fluffing my hair. 

 “Um…Last flashback I had I was twenty two, I might be twenty three now, but I can’t really remember my birthday.” That sounded weird leaving my mouth. Jonas gave a small nod.

 “Why?” He shrugged 

 “Just asking…Come down when you’re done.” He closed the door behind him, leaving me in the room to change. What a weird question. Why was he so concerned as to what my age was? Maybe it’s because I look kinda younger than that…Or maybe he was just curious. There’s something up though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slow chapter, but still hoped you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for all the Kudos, and the reads, you guys are awesome :) :)


	6. Tension

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter though. By the way, I'm making another story apart from this one, it's not up yet, but it'll probably be up when the next chapter of this story is posted. I'll keep all of you guys updated. :) :)

 We sat around and talked for hours, about random things, such as Jonas working with Beyonce, apparently he was a famous director, and even directed a concert movie for Rammstein. It started to become dark, soon enough, and the whole living room was lit with candles, so we were able to see each other. Our stomachs began to growl soon enough, _we haven’t ate all day basically, so it was understandable._  

 “Let’s start heating up some cans of pasta, everyone can get one can each, just grab from the box.” Jonas instructed, standing up from the couch, stretching out his back. We all joined him, our bones cracking, turning back and forth so we could loosen up a little bit. As we walked to the kitchen, Schneider tapped my shoulder, causing me to jump. I turned around flashing him a small smile. 

 “Hey.” I greeted.

 “Did Jonas tell you what the rooming plan was?” I shrugged, and nodded.

 “Yeah…Are you okay with it?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at him. He paused for a moment, and glanced down at me.

 “Uh…Yeah I’m totally fine with it, I just thought he didn’t tell you.” He mumbled, scratching the back of his neck, as we walked into the kitchen, seeing Richard, Paul, Till, Oliver, and Flake holding their cans of pasta over the open flame. Jonas came over and handed both of us an open can each. 

 “Grab a flame.” I took a seat beside Till who sat with his hand under his chin, staring at the can. 

 “Having an existential crisis?” I mumbled, seeing a small, unnatural smirk appear on Till’s lips. 

 “No…Fortunately.” I laughed, putting my own can over the flame. 

 “I wish I had a flame thrower to heat this can up right now…I’m starving.” He added. 

 “It would singe your eyebrows.” I commented back. He chuckled.

 “Not like it hasn’t happened to me before…I could just draw them back on…I guess.” I giggled, seeing him smile a little more. 

 “Thanks for…Shooting Julius by the way.” He nodded. 

 “Anytime…I’m always willing to put myself in danger.” I raised my eyebrows, moving the can around.

 “Sounds like you’re an adrenaline junkie.” I nudged him, wiggling my eyebrows around. He laughed, but stopped abruptly when he heard my can sizzling. 

 "What the hell? I've been sitting here longer than you, how did you do that?" I shrugged picking up a fork, handing the can over to Till. He traded with me. 

 "Thanks." I gave him a small nod, hearing the can that I held sizzle. Till stared at my hands

 "It's you!" Till yelled, as I put the can down on the counter. He grabbed my hand, pulling away quickly, hissing. 

 "You're heating up." I stared at my hands.  _Might as well take advantage of it_. I turned around and snatched Richard's can out of his hands, holding it for a couple of seconds until it sizzled. I did the rest of the cans, and then put my hands in freezing cold water to bring down the temperature. Everyone was enjoying their food, stopping and talking in between spoonfuls. After finishing the food, we sat there for a little while, talking still, Jonas reminisced about Till putting a hole in the side of his cheek to bore a light through it for a music video that he directed for them, sounded pretty painful, but at least it didn't scar. Jonas yawned loudly, checking the time on his solar watch.

 "Jesus Christ. It's 12:24...I need some sleep. You guys should get some too. You guys might have to shovel yourselves out tomorrow " He joked, throwing the cans out into the garbage. I nodded, agreeing with him, as I stretched out and yawned also. 

 "Dibs on the bathroom first!" Richard yelled, running up the stairs. The rest of us following behind him, lining up for the bathroom. He didn't take too long, he just did a face wash and wet his hair under the sink. Paul and Till took a total of ten minutes each which wasn't too bad, and I took around the same time. I walked into the bedroom, candle in hand and closed the door behind me. I pulled the sweat pants off of my legs, and changed my shirt so it was a little longer than the one prior. I pulled down the one cover and climbed into bed, shivering as I tried to warm myself up. The door opened, and Schneider entered the room, placing his candle down near mine, giving me a small nod of acknowledgement. He turned his back away from me, prying his shirt off of him, I have to admit. I did stare for a little while, as he was trying to find a shirt to wear. Through the flickering of the candle light I see him unfold a shirt, and pull it over him. I tore my gaze off of him, and pulled the covers higher up, trying to stop myself from shivering.

 "I don't have to stay here if you don't want me to." He stated, looking down at his feet. 

 "It's alright. Like I said before I don't mind, it's not a big deal." I explained, turning over to face the window. He let out a shaky sigh, and shuffled around before I felt the bed shift. I could hear him turn onto his side, shivering like me, but only because he wasn't under the covers. 

 "Schneider it's not like I'm going to bite you or something, I can hear you shivering, just come under the blanket." I mumbled into the cover, and immediately I heard him shuffle under the blanket. I turned over to face him, noticing that he was already facing me.

 "Jonas asked how old I was. Do you know any reason why he would ask that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. A confused look, with a hint of rosiness came up on his face, adverting his gaze from me.

 "I don't know...I guess he was curious." He shrugged.

 "Well now that you know I'm twenty two...How old are you?" He smirked, glancing up at me, his ice blue eyes scanning me.

 "Fifty two..." _Hold up a hot second...Fifty two?_

 "You look a lot younger than fifty two, are you sure?" He chuckled at my comment.

 "No I'm pretty sure I'm fifty two, its 2018 now...And it's definitely past my birthday, cause my birthday is in May, so...Yeah fifty two is the right number." He joked. 

 "How long have you been in that band for then?" He had to think about it.

 "Since 1994...So it was going to be twenty four years." 

 "Any funny stories?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

 "A lot of them...I used to dress up as a woman on stage, Frau Schneider is what they used to call me. Till and Flake got arrested once for simulating anal sex on stage with a fake penis during our song Buck Dich...That was a fun night." He mumbled sarcastically. 

 "You guys must've been a forced to be reckoned with." I giggled.

 "We definitely were...Loads of pyrotechnics, lots of explosions, and a bunch of props to top it all off...Till loved the whole aspect of pain, and you could tell that he didn't mind getting a few burns here and there. He was willing to do anything for the art, that's what made him a great artist." I could imagine how crazy the performances were. 

 "Does he still write?" He shrugged.

 "Probably, but chances are he hides the notebooks and stuff, he's quite secretive." He yawned, rubbing his eyes. I began to think about Belgium, wishing that I could find out what happened to my parents. I interrupted the silence.

 “Schneider?” He ran his hands through his hair and stretched out.

 “Yeah?” 

 “…What destroyed the safe haven in Belgium?” He opened his eyes, shifting closer to me.

 “The virus infected almost everyone, we didn’t  get infected because of the encounter I had with my wife, and I told the guys about it right away. We tried to tell other people, but they ignored it, they thought we wanted all the food and goods to ourselves. A couple of weeks later it became an all out war. We were lucky that we made it out.” I stared at him. 

 "If you really want to go there Nova, nobody is stopping you, but you aren’t going to like what you see…It’s unseeable.” He warned in a wobbly voice, ending the conversation abruptly by turning over. I stared at his back, how he held the blanket close to him, simulating hugging someone. I could hear him breathe in heavily, and let out a shaky breath. Comfort him you idiot. I reached my hand out, placing it onto his back, getting hit with a headache immediately. 

  _“Please no! No no no!” Schneider screamed, holding a little boy in his arms. The boy from the pictures. He cried loudly, rocking back and forth, with him in his arms_

_“Till please…There must be something we can do! I promised her I would keep him safe.” He pleaded, I looked over at Till who wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, shaking his head slowly._

_“I’m so sorry Schneider.” He consoled. I couldn’t look at him, the only thing I could do was cover my ears, to drown out his heart breaking cries._

 My brain faded out from the scene, feeling tears flowing down my cheeks. I wiped them off with the back of my free hand, and slowly pried the other off his back. 

 “Schneider...I didn’t mean to…” I sniffled. 

 “It’s fine. You don’t have control over it.” He mumbled against the cover. I shuffled closer to him, putting my arm over his torso, I could feel him tense up, as I placed my ear on his back, listening to his heart beat. He traced his fingers over the top of my hand, before engulfing it with his. Sending me into another flashback. 

  _"Higher daddy! Higher!" The little boy squealed. It felt like I was looking in through a window, his short blonde hair shined in the sunlight, as Schneider threw him up in the air and caught him, twirling around. He held him against his chest, the little boys hand reached up, to pinching the end of Schneider's nose._

_"Ich liebe dich." He breathed into his ear, kissing his forehead._

_"Ich liebe dich auch." The boy replied, cuddling into Schneider's neck._  

 I pulled my hand back quickly, wiping my eyes with the back of my hands, which caused even more tears to flow down my cheeks. 

 "I'm sorry I shouldn't be the one crying..." Schneider sighed, turning over to face me.

 "That was supposed to make you happy, it was a happy memory." He wiped a tear that fell from the corner of my eye, and placed is arm over me. I closed my fists, trying not to touch him with my palms, knowing that I didn't want to be sent into another flashback that would only make me cry harder. He put his chin on top of my head bringing me closer to him, my ears tuning back into his steady heart beat. 

 "Before you fall asleep... I have a question." Schneider mumbled, I gave him a small nod signalling him to continue. 

 "Jonas wants to do a blood test on you tomorrow, and since all these things, like the temperature, and entering memories are happening...Do you think you would be up to it?" I pulled back and looked up at him.

 "Definitely." I placed my forehead onto his chest, slowly drifting off into a deep sleep. 

 ------

 A loud rumble from outside woke me from my sleep, the dawn sky shining through the curtains. I glanced down at Nova who was curled up against me, her cold hand on my chest, along with her arm over my torso. I involuntarily smiled to myself, reaching a hand up to push a piece of faded red hair out of her face. She cuddled up even closer to me, breathing in heavily, the palm of her hand meeting my back. I lifted her arm up slowly so she didn't have a flashback, and placed it in front of her, slowly slipping out of the bed. She groaned loudly, the sheets rustling together. I pulled on a pair of jeans, hearing her sit up. 

 "What are you doing?" She quizzed, her soft voice sounding a little more gravelly. 

 "Getting up. Something you should do too." I suggested, turning around to face Nova, with a huge smirk on my face.

 "It's freezing tho." She complained, wrapping herself in the blanket like a burrito.

 "Well you could come down like that then I guess. Nobody is awake, it's pretty early." I shrugged, she glanced up sending a smirk back to me, raising her eyebrows.

 "Good idea." She stood up from the bed, and shuffled over towards me, I placed my hand over my mouth laughing lightly. 

 "You gonna open the door for me, or would you like to see me struggle to open the door without the blanket falling?" _Struggling sounds like a tempting offer._ I opened the door and rushed out, closing it behind me before she could get out.

 "Oh you little scheisse." She whispered, I listened to the door knob twist and turn but the door didn't open. She groaned and opened the door, revealing herself in boxer shorts and a t-shirt. She bent over, grabbed the cover and wrapped herself in it again. 

 "Better close your mouth your insides might freeze." She joked, shuffling by me.  _For fuck sake Christoph_. I followed her down the stairs, straight into the kitchen. 

 "Do you think Jonas would be pissed if we used the old fashioned espresso maker?" I smirked.

 "No. I think that's the only one he has tho, so be careful when you're handling it." She nodded, filling the bottom up with the coffee and water.

 "Do you mind lighting a candle for me?" I grabbed some matches, and the candle. She watched me closely, as I lit the match, waving it over the wick. I slid the candle over to her.

 "Thanks." She mumbled, placing the espresso maker over the candle, holding it with one hand, so she could hold her blanket up with the other. A few moments of silence passed, our ears tuning into the bubbling of the espresso maker. 

 "Are you just retaining the heat?" I asked, taking a seat on one of the stools. She shrugged.

 "I think my body just adjusts to the temperature. Whatever temperature it is." She placed the espresso machine down on the counter, and turned around, grabbing two mugs from the dish holder. The candle light shined on her face, her eyes glowing from it, _I could get lost in them forever and never get bored of it._ **God what am I saying?!** She slid my cup over.

 "Looks like you have something on your mind." I shook my head, glancing down at the mug.

 "No...Just blanked out, it's a usual thing." I took a sip of the strong coffee. I could see Nova in my peripheral vision, squinting at me. I placed the mug down.

 "What are you looking at?" I asked, eyebrows raised. She adverted her gaze, then out of nowhere she hopped up and touched my cheek. My brain melting into a small puddle that she was splashing around in, looking through my thoughts, her eyes widening at the thought she found. 

 “You can get lost in my eyes forever eh?” She chuckled, pulling her hand off my cheek. I felt my face heat up immediately, tearing my gaze off of her. I took another sip of the coffee.

 "We really need to find you a pair of gloves.” I mumbled. I heard her snicker.

 “Hell no. I can definitely get used to this.” She giggled. I looked up from the mug, our eyes meeting again. Her giggling died down, both of us blushing. I could see her pupils dilate, the green almost disappearing. _Schneider don’t do it. Just don’t._

 “Um…Maybe we should wake the guys up.” I suggested, _good save!_  

 “Yeah sure…You can do that, I’m gonna go onto the roof, it’s almost time for the sun to rise.” She grabbed her cup of coffee, and shuffled by me. God, lord, Jesus Christ what has gotten into you today?! I grabbed my mug, and walked to the sofa, seeing Paul and Till on the two couches, wide awake. 

 “You two are a show and a half.” Paul joked, staring at me. 

 “You better shut up.” I pointed at him.

 “It is true…You two have some weird awkward chemistry.” Till agreed with Paul, smirking. 

 “Till…Shut up.” He laughed deeply.

 “Aw come on Schneider…We all know you like her.”  Paul giggled.

 “Wait…What are you even doing here? She’s on the roof watching the sunrise…And you are down here talking to us.” I rubbed my forehead.

 “Listen…I can’t do this. I can’t pursue this, it’s not right.” Till and Paul sat up, looking at me with confused.

 “Okay…Tell us why you think that it’s not right?” 

 “Because she’s young, we’re in a place where we could lose anyone at anytime, I could lose her. She could lose me. I am not willing to put her in that kind of pain, and I don't think that she's ready physically or mentally judging by the fact that she's recovering from the events that happened two nights ago that we shall not speak of...And I'm not ready either." 

 “Schneider…We know it’s not just the fact that ‘you’re not ready’, or 'she's not ready'…You’re still dawning on your wife and your sons death…It’s been so long, it’s time for you to…Let go.” He explained. 

 “I…I can’t do that.” I shook my head back and forth, you can’t. I couldn’t listen to them anymore, so I turned around, and went up the stairs. Walking into our room, noticing Nova on the roof, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her hair flowing down her back. _Fuck sake._ I sighed, opening the window, she looked over her shoulder, her green eyes scanning me, a smirk forming on her lips. 

 “So you decided to join me?” I stepped onto the window sill, stepping onto the roof.

 “I guess so.” I sat beside her, bringing my knees up to my chest, staring at the light orange sky, the sun emitting it’s light through the heavy clouds. 

 "So did you wake anyone up, or did you just immediately change your mind after I walked away?" I glanced over at her.

 "Till and Paul are awake." I mumbled.

 "Yeah I know, I can hear what they're saying." Wait. What? 

 "When did that start happening?" She smirked.

 "Why do you want to know? Was there something that you didn't want me to hear?" I blushed rapidly, shaking my head.

 "It's just...You're developing all these things and we need to keep track of when it's happening, if your body has fought off the infection, but is creating all these side effects, this might not be the cure that everyone it looking for." I explained. She looked away from me, and stared at the sun.

 "It's weird to see something so beautiful in such a terrible world..." She commented.

 "It gives you..." I stopped for a moment searching for a word.

 "Hope." She finished my sentence. Both of us locked glances again, her eyes scanned my face, like she was trying to solve a mystery. A small gust of wind blew her hair to one side, and I could feel a wave of awkwardness come over us. _I knew what I wanted to do...But I just couldn't._ I tore my gaze away from her, looking at the sunrise. In my peripheral vision I could see  her hand slowly come out from the blanket. I quickly grabbed her wrist, stopping her from touching me. 

 "Don't..." She stared at me, all the color in her eyes disappearing, the green fading.

 "Nova...Stop." I felt my mind start to melt, becoming a puddle again.  _No no no._

 "Nova." She snapped out of it shaking her head, the green in her eyes returning.

 "I-I'm sorry..." I took my hand off her wrist, sighing, my mind turning solid again.

 "...Nova...You need to learn how to control it, please, my brain feels like it's melting when you do that." I rubbed my head, trying to cure the headache. 

 "I'll learn." She crawled away from me. I watched her go back into the bedroom, closing the window behind her. 

 ------

 I walked over to the dresser, why do you have to be such an idiot Nova? I turned around, looking over at Schneider's back. I opened the dresser up, grabbing a pair of jeans, pulling them up my legs, buttoning them. I glanced over at him again, before leaving the room, seeing Jonas come out of his. 

 "So...How was last night?" I closed the door behind me.

 "Fine I guess...Schneider told me about that blood test, do you have everything ready?" I changed the subject quickly, walking by him. 

 "Um, yeah..." He followed behind me, walking down the stairs. I noticed everyone was awake, scattered around the couch and kitchen. 

 "Just sit down on the stool, and I'll go grab the stuff." I took a seat, sighing. Jonas went into the basement, leaving me alone. Richard, and Till walked in conversing with each other, they stopped immediately, and looked at me, eyebrows raised.

 "I thought you and Schneider were going to be up on the roof forever." Till joked, picking up the espresso machine, holding it out to me.

 "Do you mind?" I placed my hand over the candle, before taking it out of his hands. Richard sighed.

 "What's up with you two anyways?" I looked over at him, giving him a small shrug.

 "Nothing, we are just friends." He smirked, glancing over at Till. 

 "Sure you guys are...For now of course." Till added. He knew something. I squinted at him, trying to get into his mind. Hearing a small voice. 

_"I can't do this, I can't pursue this, it's not right." Schneider's voice rang through my ears._

 That's when I snapped out of my trance, hearing Jonas open up the basement door, holding the tubes, and needle. I placed the espresso machine on the counter, seeing steam flowing out of the top. Till sighed, grabbing the handle, pouring a cup for himself, he handed the machine to Richard, walking out of the kitchen, he did the same and followed. Jonas raised his eyebrows.

 "I really know how to clear a room." He joked. I smirked, unfolding my arm. My eyes glanced over the needle, and tubes.

 "So how does this work?" I questioned, looking at him taking the syringe out. He grabbed the tubes, holding them up.

 "I fill all three of these up with your blood, one is for testing, and the other two is for experimentation." He explained.

 "Experimentation?" He nodded.

 "I might inject just a little into myself just to see what happens after we do a few tests on the blood of course." He's a little bit crazy if he's willing to do that. Jonas took the cap off the needle, feeling around for my vein, I glanced away from him. Feeling the needle slide under my skin, I looked over at the tube filling up with blood.

 “So…What made you want to do this?” He questioned.

 “Schneider.” I mumbled, blushing. He placed a tube down on the counter, switching it out with another one. 

 “…Explain.” I brought my hand up to his arm, showing him the events that happened last night. Jonas’s eyes widened, as I pulled my hand away.

 “There’s my explanation.” I shrugged, he groaned, switching the tubes again.

 “You two are just a ball of tension.” He whispered under his breath, Schneider walked in placing gloves on the table.

 “That’s how you will solve that problem.” He spat, exiting the kitchen as quickly as he came in. Jonas stared at me.

 “Jeez…Should we blind her too so she can’t read our minds!?” He joked, taking the syringe out of my arm. I sighed, picking the thin gloves up, sliding them over my hands. _This is just…Great._


	7. Freeze Me

 A couple of days later, and we were still stuck in the house. The snow was continuous and harsh, and all of us knew all too well that we had to wait it out, or else none of us would make it home. The nights were also harsh, and tensions were high between Schneider and I. We didn’t share a room anymore, and there was also no sort of communication between us, the only time that words were uttered to me was when he had to come into the room and grab something, apart from that we could be in the same room alone with each other and you would be able to hear a pin drop. I didn’t know how long it would last for, but I hoped that his oath of silence towards me would end soon. 

 ------

 Jonas came up from the basement, holding two vials of blood in his hands. He handed them both to me, and sat down.

 “I adjusted your blood slightly, there’s a sort of…Resistance that your blood built, and those side effects, of you being able to see people's memories and thoughts are caused by that resistance, so it wouldn’t give into the infection. If someone was to inject themselves with this they would develop that too…” I looked down, holding them between my silky black gloves. 

 “They’re yours…So keep them safe ok?” I nodded, getting up from the couch. 

 “I’ll go put them in my room.” I walked up the stairs, seeing that the door was closed. I sighed, knocking lightly.

 “Yeah…Come in.” Schneider mumbled. I entered the room, and placed the vial’s on the dresser, not even looking at him, just completely ignoring his presence in the room. I closed the door immediately after, and placed my back against the wall, letting out a long frustrated breath. Richard poked his head out of his room, waving me to come over. I pushed myself off of the wall, and shuffled into his room, he closed the door behind me, as I sat down on his bed. 

 “What’s with the gloves?” I looked down at my hands.

 “Schneider gave them to me because he wants me to ‘get my abilities under control’, he was hurt by my...Prying." I explained, looking up at Richard, who had a smirk plastered on his face.

 “I haven’t experienced these ‘abilities’.” He joked.

 “Go ahead. I want to see, I give you my full permission.” He motioned to me, I glanced up at him, and slowly took my gloves off. I placed them beside me, and got up from the bed, stepping towards him. I reached my hand out, putting my fingertips on his cheek. 

  _I could hear people running, and bullets flying by me, seeing Richard crouched behind a car. He was out of breath, holding a gun against him. I looked around, trying to find where everyone else was. Schneider hid behind a large piece of concrete, holding his son against him. People against people. Till shot a couple of people, injuring them, Schneider's son cried covering his ears. I glanced up, seeing a huge tank, a military grade tank.My jaw dropped, realizing what was about to happen was the hardest, because I couldn't do anything to prevent it. The top of the green tank turned towards the barrels of gasoline, letting out a loud shot. The drums blew up, shrapnel blowing everywhere, glass from some buildings shattering because of the intensity the blast gave off. The flames blinded me momentarily, but once they died down I heard the familiar cries of Schneider._

  _"We need to save him."_

 I faded out of the memory, pulling my fingertips off his cheek.

 "How could they do that?" I whispered, looking up at Richard. He shrugged.

 "I don't know, but I will never understand why they did that, and there will never be a valid reason in my eyes." He commented. I felt a tear fall down my cheek. Richard sighed, wiping it off my chin. 

 "There is no need to cry." I shook my head, letting more tears flow down my cheeks. 

 "I'm crying because of all that pain he had to go through...It must've been so...Hard." I whimpered, placing my head in my hands, wiping my cheeks off. 

 "He still has it hard...But Nova...You need to understand that he hasn't been happy for so long. We all noticed that he changed when you came around...And I know he's mad at you, but you need to try to get along with him again...We liked seeing the old him." He explained.  _I need to try._

 "Now give me a hug because I don't like seeing you cry." He added opening his arms up to me. I rested my head on his chest, as he closed his muscular arms around me. 

 "By the way...I have to be honest and tell you that your ability shouldn't be hidden. So stop wearing those stupid gloves, and just practice on controlling it." I nodded.

 "I will try, but if you see me wearing them again it's for a good reason." I forewarned, pulling back, drying my face off.

 "Thank you Richard." He placed his hand on my shoulder. 

 "Any time Nova." I opened the door of his room, and left, leaving the gloves on the bed. As I closed the door behind me, Schneider was also leaving his room. I could see him glance over at me and advert his gaze, walking the opposite way. _Richard was right...I do need to get along with him again, I couldn't let him have this attitude forever, I didn't even do anything to him, one thing, I just tried to look at what he was thinking on the roof, I wanted to know._ I let out a frustrating groan, going after Schneider. I heard the front door close, only making me quicken my pace. I pulled my boots on, almost falling against the wall. 

 "And where do you think you're going?" Till asked, leaning against the entrance of the living room. I pushed my hair out of my face.

 "I'm going after Schneider." I replied, opening the door, running outside, letting the winter air hit me. The snow was coming down so much that I wouldn't be able to see my hand if I put it in front of my face, yet I still decided to go out and find him. 

 "Schneider!" I yelled, hoping, and wishing that he would answer, and maybe make it easier for me, but he didn't. I stopped walking through the shoe suffocating snow, closing my eyes. _His heartbeat_. I stood there for a couple of minutes, focusing as hard as I could. _Please, work_. I begged, closing my eyes even tighter, that's when I heard the heartbeat, a wave of relief washing over me. _Thank god_. I followed it.

 "Schneider, please answer me!" I screamed, stepping onto a fairly crunchy chunk of snow. I heard it crack, crack... _Ice_. I shuffled, trying not to put any pressure so I wouldn't fall through. His heart beat didn't get any closer, but it was becoming even more distant. I closed my eyes even harder, trying to focus on where it was really coming from. For some reason, I crouched down, and placed my hand onto the ice.

  _I heard my own voice_

  _"Schneider, please answer me!" I could see him turn around, squinting through the snow, trying to see where I was, then a loud crack rang through my ears, seeing him fall._

 My mind faded out, _he's under the ice_. I panicked, slamming my fist against the snow, trying to crack it. _Fuck sake_. I stood up quickly, hopping up and down, plugging my nose, as I heard the ice break under me, finally falling through. The water was freezing, chilling my blood to the bone, I let out a gasp, my body slowly getting used to the dangerous temperature. I took in a deep breath, submerging myself under the water. Tuning back in with his heart beat, I went deeper, hearing it slow down, but grow in volume. I opened my eyes, being able to see perfectly through the water. I could see him floating, no movements, nothing. _Please no_. I swam over to him, hooking my arms under his, the heart beat almost non existent at this point. His head lulled to the side, causing me to swim quickly to the surface. We both surfaced above the water, earning no gasp from him.

 "Till! Someone! Help!" I screamed, looking at Schneider. His hair fell in front of his pale bluish face, his head hanging. 

 "Schneider...Schneider!" I yelled smacking his cheek. He didn't react. I took one of my arms out from under him, and slammed my hand down on the ice, cracking it immediately.

 "Nova! I can't see you! What's happening!?" I heard Till yell, through the storm. 

 "Just wait there!" I called out, swimming through the broken ice, holding Schneider's head over the water. I pulled him onto land. I felt around my pocket, finding a battery operated light, turning it on.

 "I'm where the light is!" I yelled to Till, as I began pushing on his chest, ignoring the memories that were shooting through my head. I placed my mouth on his, breathing hard, feeling his chest rise under me. I pulled away from him, seeing Till crouch down beside me, panicked just like me.

 "What happened?!" He asked, looking down at Schneider. I began to cry, shaking my head. 

 "We need to get him inside." Till agreed, picking him up quickly. I grabbed the flashlight, running behind Till. He kicked the door open basically, both of us entering quickly. I closed the door, as Till put him down. 

 "I'm going to grab you a change of clothes, just continue doing CPR." He instructed. I did as he said, pushing down hard on his chest, breathing into his mouth. Richard ran down, moving me over.

 "I got it. You just go get changed." He blubbered, I nodded running upstairs. Till handed me a shirt and pants which I changed into in lightning speed. I looked at the dresser, seeing the blood samples that Jonas gave me. **_You are not doing it. You can't. What if it doesn't work? What if he wakes up and he's one of those monsters?_**  I stared at the samples.

 "Last resort." I mumbled, grabbing the sample off the dresser. I ran back down seeing that he wasn't there. 

 "Where is he?" Paul came out of the kitchen 

 "They brought him upstairs into Jonas's room...Its bigger. Whats that?" He motioned to the sample.

 "Jonas gave it to me...Did they get a pulse back?" I asked, putting the vile into the waistband of my jeans. He shook his head. 

 "They think it might be his temperature. Go up they probably need you." I walked back up the stairs, to Jonas's room. Richard stood in front of the door, rubbing his forehead.

 "Richard...Whats going on?" He looked over at me, a tear forming in his eye. 

 "He's not breathing Nova...I think...I think you were too late." He whispered. I shook my head, denying the statement he just made.

 "I need to see him." I was about to walk in the room, only to be stopped by Richard raising his arm in front of me.

 "Nova...No." I looked up at him, anger filling me. 

 "I _**need** _ to see him." He shook his head. I stared at him, not believing his actions. I grabbed his arm, then all of the sudden he fell to the ground letting out a yelp of shock. 

 "Jesus Christ Nova. What the hell?" He groaned. 

 "I-I'm...I didn't...I don't know what I did." I panicked searching for an answer, looking at my hands. 

 "...S-She shocked me." Richard yelled, Jonas looked over, his eyes wide. I just wanted to see Schneider...He basically ran over to me, and grabbed my arm. 

 "Richard what did you do to make her shock you?" He yelled, bringing me to the bed Schneider was on. His skin still had that film of blue, like he was frozen.

 "I-I-I got her angry. I refused to let her in." He replied. I touched his cheek, trying to get into his mind, but the only thing I could see was darkness, ignoring the conversation that Jonas and Richard were having. I pulled my hand away, placing it on his bare chest, letting the tears flow down my face freely, not caring about the looks I would get from the guys. 

 "Nova...I apologize in advance." Jonas warned, before pulling his hand back and slapping me across the face. What in the fuck?! I placed my hand on my cheek, staring at him, anger filling my eyes. He backed away quickly, but all of the sudden, the anger disappeared. A loud familiar gasp rang through my ears, feeling Schneider's chest rising unevenly, like he was struggling to get air. I looked over at him, immediately getting dragged into one of his memories.

  _We sat on the roof, staring at the sunrise. Me under the blanket, him sitting beside me, with our gazes turned to each other.Do I really have to see this again? This was the thing that got him into this mood, I shouldn't even be looking at this, especially because he gave me a warning to get it under control.I began to see that the memory was unexpectedly different though, noticing that he was leaning in. I even noticed myself leaning in.This didn't fucking happen. I wish I had the fucking option to feel this.I saw our lips slowly touch, the sun being covered by our shadowy figures.Was this something that could've happened? Was this the thing he was trying to hide? We pulled away from each other._

  _"I'm sorry...I...I don't know what I was thinking." He nervously apologized. I saw myself place my forehead on his, smirking._

  _"Schneider...Don't be sorry."_  

 I faded out of the tampered memory, seeing Schneider passed out still. 

 "Nova. I'm sorry I slapped you, it was the only way you could've revived him..." I shook my head, looking over at Jonas

 "It's fine...As long as he's alive that slap doesn't matter. Just...Don't do it again, or give me a forewarning before you just flat out slap me." I commented, putting a little laugh at the end of the sentence. I glanced back at Schneider, his color hasn't come back yet, he was still fairly pale. I looked at his chest seeing scars that I didn't see before, I slowly ran my hand over them, the unnatural feeling of the scarred tissue under my fingertips. 

 "I think Schneider's in good hands...We should go." Till suggested, he walked out of the room, followed by everyone else. The door closing. I took my fingers off the scar, and took his large limp hand between mine, my thumb tracing over the back of it. His temperature could be compared to a freezer, which gave me a worried feeling, realizing that his condition might not be stable enough for him to stay alive, or even wake up. He might be a fucking vegetable for all we know. I reached my hand out, touching his cheek. 

 "Come on Schneider..." I whispered, tightening my grip on his hand. _Please squeeze back_. I thought, lowering my head. _I just need you to wake up_. I closed my eyes tightly, letting a tear escape my eye. _The fact that the person who saved me, and stood up for me, might be dying right now is not a pleasant thing to know._ I took my hand off his cheek, pulling the blood sample out of the waistband of my jeans. _Last resort Nova_. **_This is the last resort, he almost died._** I kissed his cold forehead, and got off the bed, walking out the room. I closed the door behind me, still staring at the vial of blood. I clutched it in between my hand, and walked down the stairs, seeing the guys sitting on the couches, staring at each other. 

 “How is he?” Jonas asked, standing up from his seat. Everyone looked over at me. I gave a small shake of my head.

 “He’s not stable. He’s as cold as an iceberg.” I murmured, trying to not cry again. He grabbed the vial out of my hands, looking down at it.

 “Can you explain to us what that is?” Till coughed, motioning to the vial. 

 “It’s Nova’s blood.” Jonas replied, peeking up at Till. 

 “And what are you guys thinking of doing with that?” I glanced over at Richard.

 “Her blood is powerful enough to help him…If we inject just a little into him…” Jonas explained, holding the vial up. 

 “No.” Flake responded immediately. I looked over at him.

 “Flake…If you want him to live this might be the only way.” I rebutted. 

 “So the only way to help him is to inject your infected blood into his?” He argued. 

 “Her blood isn’t infected. She has a resistance to the infection, her blood is built to kill it. That’s why there is all of those side effects…The healing is part of that too. Watch.” Jonas walked to the kitchen grabbing a knife. Till stepped in front of me quickly.

 “Woah woah woah. Jonas…Easy.” I could see him roll his eyes.

 “Flake doesn’t believe in it even though he saw those bullet wounds heal…So I’m going to make him believe. Nova, give me your arm.” I slid it under Till’s arm, feeling Jonas’s hand on my wrist, quickly slicing it. I felt my arm sting for a few seconds, and pulled it away from him. Turning my forearm to Flake.

 “Do you believe me now?” Flake stared at the scar, where Jonas had cut. 

 “…What if there is complications with your blood mixing with his? It might not even work.” I sighed. I didn’t think of that. Jonas pulled down the collar of his shirt revealing a little bruise on his neck.

 “I tested it on myself just yesterday, no bad side effects, slow healing though, but it’s good enough…So don’t worry ok? I’ll go grab the syringe.” He walked to the kitchen leaving the rest of us to stare at each other. Till rubbed his head, groaning loudly.

 “And I thought life during the apocalypse would be more calming.” He uttered, as Jonas walked back into the living room, a clean syringe in hand.

 “Let’s go up.” He motioned for me to follow him, which I did, clutching the vial in my hand tightly. He opened the door, Schneider was in the same position still, his heart beating every ten seconds, which wasn’t normal. I sat down on the bed, Jonas handing the syringe to me.

 “I only injected a little into myself, but we can up the dose, it’s kind of a dire situation.” I pulled off the needle cap, and placed the needle into the vial of blood, filling the syringe almost fully, making sure there isn’t any air bubbles or anything. My hands began to shake, as I handed Jonas the needle. 

 “He might wake up, it’s gonna burn.” He warned. I nodded, grabbing Schneider’s cold hand, holding it between both of mine.

 “I remember the feeling…” Jonas tilted Schneider’s head to the side, exposing his neck. He placed the needle against his skin, and pushed it in slowly, stopping at about half way. 

 “Get prepared if he wakes up.” He mumbled, slowly injecting him with the blood. I felt his hand twitch in mine, but that was the only reaction we got from him. Jonas took the needle out of his neck, and placed it into the garbage. 

 “Now we wait.” He announced, glancing over at me.

 “…Are you going to wait until he wakes up?” He asked curiously, his eyebrows scrunched together, a smirk plastered on his lips. 

 “…Yes.” I answered, blushing heavily, as I crossed my legs. 

 “I’ll call you down when we’re having dinner, or I’ll bring it up to you…Since you want to be the first one he sees when he wakes up.” He joked, walking out of the room. I looked over at Schneider, hearing that his breathing was a little more stable now. I tightened my grip on his hand. Hearing a female’s voice. 

  _“You need to go back…We will be watching over you, we will keep you safe. We will keep both of you safe.” She whispered, the woman's soft, soothing voice ringing through my ears._

  _“I will never see you again if I go back.” Schneider replied._

  _“But you will have her…You don’t need me anymore, I’ve only been in your mind to keep you out of trouble. Now she can do that. She risked her own life to save you, and she succeeded.” The woman explained._

  _“She could’ve left you under that ice for being such a stubborn prick but she didn’t, because I can see she cares. Think about what she’s doing right now. She’s probably right beside you waiting…So what are you gonna do? Stay with me, or wake up for her?” She added, giving him two huge options with one tough decision._

 I tore myself out of the conversation. _What the hell was that about? Who was he talking to, and the even bigger question, were those actually real options, and is he really choosing from them?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of questions and hopefully lots of answers. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.


	8. Break

 I sat on the bed with Schneider, reading a poetry book that Till gave me to pass the time, hearing a knock from the door.

 "Come in." Paul poked his head in, a small smile on his lips.

 "Want to go out on a supply run with me? None of the guys want to come, and I was thinking that maybe you needed a break from Romeo over here." He motioned to Schneider, I glanced over at him, it had been a week since injecting him with the blood, so I understood why he wanted me to take a break. 

 "Yeah...Yeah I think you're right about needing a break." I looked over at Schneider, tracing my thumb under his eye, hoping that maybe he would wake up while I was gone. Paul smirked holding the door open. 

 "Aww Juliet, your Romeo will wake up soon enough he just needs time, now come on, we gotta go before it gets dark." He warned, walking away from the bedroom door. I put my legs over the bed, slipping my feet into my boots, tying them tightly. I sighed, standing up and stretching, cracking my back. I let out a loud groan, shuffling over to the dresser, picking up my pocket knife, and flashlight, sliding them into the front pocket of my sweater. I opened the door to the room, and exited, catching one last glimpse of Schneider, maybe this supply run will do me good, might take the stress off of me. I closed the door behind me, and met Paul at the door. He held two guns in his hand, and a huge duffle bag on his shoulder, leaning against the frame of the living room. His eyes glanced over at me, a smile coming up on his face, as he reached his hand out, offering me the gun. 

 "I don't think I need it." I protested, looking at the shimmering silver hand gun. 

 "It's just in case we get separated, you’ll at least have something to protect yourself with.” I lifted my sweater up showing the pocket knife.

 “I’m covered, you need all the protection you can get.” I assured him, opening up the door. 

 “Guys we’re going out for that supply run, we’ll be back soon.” He blurted.

 “Go to the pharmacy too, I need some pain medication my back and knees have been killing me.” Till called back. Paul chuckled and closed the door.

 “That’s what happens when you get old.” He joked, as we began to walk to the local town.

 “Apparently nobody has found this place, that’s why Jonas has all those boxes full of food and stuff…” He explained. 

 “Then why are we going out for a supply run?” I wondered, looking over at him,

 “Till’s been in pain, back, shoulder, knees. He’s quite tough but…Aging sucks. It’s also the fact that I know there must be some food other than canned pasta out in the world. Even noodles will be fucking great, at least it’ll give some variety.” He complained, kicking the snow around. I smirked at him.

 “Child.” I giggled, he bumped me jokingly.

 “You’re the child. Don’t lie and say you enjoy having that canned pasta every single day, for every meal.” I shrugged.

 “It’s not that bad, if you put some salt on it, maybe some pepper too…” I commented.

 “Well…Yes…But still.” He gave up, knowing that I made a valid point and there was no argument that could counter it. 

 “I could agree with the variation thing tho.” I added, nearly falling on my ass due to a piece of ice. Paul grabbed my arm instantly, holding me up.

_"I promise I will be safe.” A man spoke._

_“I know…But if I can’t find you…Just remember that I love you.” Paul replied._

 I shook my head, noticing that I took him down with me. He pulled his hand back. 

 “Sorry. I didn’t mean to, I should get some longer gloves.” Paul smirked.

 “It’s fine…Not really a touchy subject.” I glanced over at him.

 “Who was that?” I asked quietly. 

 “My son…He left when things were starting to happen, we never thought it would become like this, he wanted to leave and wait for everything to die down…But it didn’t.” He explained, getting up off the ice, holding a hand out to me. 

 “Is he…Okay?” I grabbed his hand.

 “Yes. He’s quite far from where the infection was spreading, basically went across the world, so he’s fine.” He answered, pulling me up from the ice, helping me balance.

 “Well thank goodness…” I uttered. We shuffled through the icy patch.

 “Not all of us have an emotional story like Schneider. Most of our kids were old enough to leave when the infection began. We stayed because we thought maybe it would stop, then it got worse. Schneider’s wife didn’t want to leave, and she refused to let the kids go with the rest of ours…And you know the rest of the story…” 

 “Kind of…I guess.” He sighed.

 “You should’ve seen him before you came around.” I looked up from my feet. 

 “He used to not speak to us. He didn’t even want to be around us. Used to go out by himself all the time, he came home one day, got the living shit beat out of him because of his stupid lone wolf attitude…But he doesn’t have that anymore.” I stared at him.

 “Maybe he just came to a conclusion that his attitude was childish.” I theorized. Paul sighed.

 “I’m such a bad person for doing this, but you need to know the truth.” _Oh god._

“Take your glove off.” I slid the silk glove off my right hand, putting it into my sweater pocket. He held the back of his hand out.

 “Whenever you’re ready.” This must be something big. I reached my palm out, placing it on top of his. 

_“Stop being a dick to her, she doesn’t deserve that. It was an accident and you know it was.” Paul whispered. Schneider stared at him._

_“She was invading my privacy.” He shot back._

_“You’re just trying to find a way to distance yourself from her, because you’re denying feelings.” Paul accused._

_“No I’m not. You’re being delusional Paul.” Schneider  argued._

_“Or maybe you’re just afraid of your own feelings.” He corrected._

_“Shut the hell up Paul!” He growled._

_“Your wife is gone, and you can’t live it down. Nova is here. She cares about you so much, and your hurting her. Fuck sake. One little thing she did and you’re over the edge. Which is another reason why you’re afraid of your own feelings.” Paul ranted. Schneider huffed, walking away from him, going to open the door. Paul dashed over, closing the door with his hand._

_“You’re not leaving until you admit to me that you like her, and that you’re making a huge mistake by pushing her away.” He stared at Paul._

_“Then we’re going to be stuck in here for a while, hope you brought some food.” He commented. I could see Paul think for a moment. Seeing him slowly compile a sentence in his mind._

  _“If you didn’t care about her…Why did you save her? You had a chance to leave her to die. If you really hated her you would’ve just taken what she had and left with it. Why did you sleep in her bed when she was having a nightmare? Was it because you just wanted her to shut up, or was it because you wanted to hold her, and tell her everything was going to be okay, and comfort her. I would choose the more obvious one.” He stared at me, with a blank face._

_“I…I don’t love her.” **Oh lord I can’-**_

__ _“Didn’t say love…But I guess you’ve admitted it to me.” Paul smirked, crossing his arms. Schneider blushed hard, his face turning beet red._

_“You’re gonna have to tell her sooner or later.” He panicked._

_“I’m going out.” He mumbled and quickly opened the door, leaving the room._

I pulled my hand away from his, in complete shock. 

 “Surprised?” He asked, his eyebrows raised. I gave him a small nod. I began to feel butterflies, or nausea… _Whichever one people felt when they were nervous._

 “I think I’m gonna throw up.” I warned.

 “Well you just answered that question…Love does that to people y’know.” He joked. I groaned. _Love._

“Let’s just get off the subject…I don’t want to talk about it.”

 “Jesus Christ you two even act the same.” He commented, as we arrived at the town. _It didn’t even look like it had been touched._

“Pharmacy then the nearest grocery store.” He instructed. We walked towards the fairly large store, seeing one of the window’s were broken. We climbed in, noticing that almost everything was still neatly placed on the shelves. 

 “I’ll go find the pain killers. You look around for stuff that you need or that you think we’ll need.” He mumbled, walking towards the pharmacists desk. I sighed, looking around, seeing that I was in the feminine products isle. _I’ll probably need them._ I picked up a pack, looking beside the packages. _Condoms…_ **Woah woah woah. Nope nope nope.** I walked over to where Paul was, placing the pack on the table. 

 “Can you put these in that duffle bag of yours?” He turned around, laughing. 

 “I was expecting to see something else.” He picked it up, wiggling his eyebrows as he placed them in the bag. 

 “Shut up.” I blushed, seeing him throw a couple of pill bottles into the bag. 

 “Now off to the grocery store.” He announced. I turned around, and walked down the isle towards the exit, Paul joined me at the front door, zipping up his bag. He pointed across the street at a store that was about the same size as the pharmacy. 

 “Jackpot.” He mumbled, opening the door, letting me go through first. He joined me, staring at the broken windows. A spray painted A on it. _Anarchy._

“Proceed with caution Paul…I think people might be in there.” I whispered, as he slowly opened the door. 

 “Variety here I come.” He replied. Tip toeing down the first isle of food. The scenery was dark and gloomy, no light was in there, the only light that we had was from the sunset, which wasn’t going to last long. He grabbed almost all of the dried noodles off the top shelf, pouring them into the bag. _All different flavours. and he made sure of that._ He grabbed a few boxes of popcorn and some chips, placing them in his bag also. We walked down a couple more isles, looking around for any more food, as we were about to turn the corner  I heard a click couple of clicks, and a mans voice.

“Turn around with your hands up.” A man with a heavy German accent demanded. We did what he said immediately, turning around to see a group of men. 

 “Fuck.” Paul muttered, about six bulking men stood in front of us,their guns pointed directly at us. The man at the front of the pack stared at us, his long grey hair framing his face. His blue eyes scanned us

 “You and the pretty lady infected?” He asked, glancing over at me. 

 “No…Not at all, we just needed some food.” Paul  replied.

 “Some? You two nearly emptied out the whole isle of dried food.” He shot back, still pointing the gun at us. 

 “We have a lot of people…Six excluding us.” Paul explained. The man looked over at me.

 “Does the pretty lady talk?” He smirked.

 “Yes.” I answered quietly, looking up at him as he got closer to me. 

 “…Do you happen to have some sort of mark?” He asked. I shook my head immediately

 “I have a few scars…But I wouldn’t call them marks…” He licked his dry chapped lips, putting the hand gun on my abdomen. 

 “Mind showing us these marks?” He propositioned. I tensed up. Bringing my hands down to the bottom of my sweater. He stared at me, as I lifted it up slowly. Feeling the metal of the gun resting on my exposed skin. He backed up, looking at the bullet wounds.

 “Ahh…I think we found that girl Julius’s boys were looking for.” He laughed, turning around. 

 “We’ll give you as much food and supplies as you want…If you give us the girl.” The man offered, looking over at Paul. 

 “We already went through this with Julius. It’s a no.” Paul answered. I gulped, looking over at him. I heard the gun load. 

 “Do you know what happens when you shoot a flesh eater with a silver bullet?” The man asked looking over at me, my eyes filling with tears. 

 “Yes.” He smirked.

 “So I advise that you tell your little friend that he’s making a mistake by saying no to me.” I looked over at Paul.

 “You’re not making a mistake.” I croaked, turning my gaze to the man again. He stared at me, caught off guard. 

 “I wouldn’t want to ruin your pretty little face, or kill you…But you’re pushing it.” He whispered. I felt my heart stop, _I’ve felt this before._ A feeling of anger built up in me. 

 “Do it. Shoot me.” Paul’s eyes widened.

 “Excuse me?” I stared at him.

 “You heard me.” I whispered in his ear. Pulling away, giving him a small smirk. He pulled the trigger, shooting both sides of my stomach, I could feel them fly out and break the window behind me. Paul pulled out his gun shooting his men in immobilizing places. I stepped on the mans foot out of reflex, head butting him, knocking him out cold. I coughed up some blood, wiping my mouth off as I looked down at the healed wounds that he just made. 

 “Nova are you fucking nuts?!” He yelled, grabbing my arm, pulling me out of the store.

 “I called his bluff.” I straightened my sweater out, shrugging. 

 “You’re fucking lucky he didn’t kill you. Jesus Christ.” He freaked, pulling his hair. 

 “Calm down. You’re being dramatic. I healed, that’s all that matters.” I mumbled. 

 “The bullets went through you, I’m allowed to be dramatic, and worried.” I shook my head, feeling liquid pour down my upper lip. I touched it, holding my hand out in front of me, staring at the dark red fluid.

 “This is also why I’m allowed to be over dramatic…” He grimaced, as I wiped my nose off with the sweater, staring  up at him. 

 “Oh my god…Nova your eyes.” He muttered, my legs lost feeling, causing me to fall to the ground, letting unconsciousness take over.

 ------

 “Her eye…It went completely black, no white…The other filled with blood. I don’t know what happened.” Paul’s voice explained, panicked. 

 “She’s also bleeding from all the scars that she has…I think she’s losing a lot of blood.” Richard added.

 “I put enough pressure on it for her not to fucking bleed out, so let’s not panic about that right now.” Jonas interrupted. I groaned, feeling a wave of pain wash over me.

 “W-W-What happened?” I opened my eyes, looking at the group of men.

 “You blacked out.” Paul replied. 

 "All your scars opened up, we had to bandage them.” Jonas mentioned. 

 “How did I get back here?” I croaked. 

 “I carried you.” Paul answered.

 "You’ve lost a lot of blood, your nose was bleeding like a blood fountain, so I highly recommend that you take it easy.” Richard mumbled. I gulped, my throat stinging. 

 “How’s Schneider?” They all smiled.

 “Romeo is fine. He still hasn’t woken up though.” Jonas muttered. 

 “You should rest, we’ll give you some pain killers when you wake up.” I nodded, not being able to keep my eyes open any longer.

 ------

 I stood up from the couch, and walked into the kitchen. Till sat on a stool reading one of the books that he grabbed randomly off of one of my bookshelves.

 “How is she?” He asked, looking up from the book.

 “It doesn’t seem good. She’s lost a lot of blood, we could see her body trying to heal itself but it’s really really slow.” I explained. 

 “What if she was wrong about the bullets not being silver?” Paul questioned, looking up from the counter.

 “From what you told us you said she healed, and then her nose started bleeding, one eye turned black and then the other turned red. Then she began bleeding out of her old wounds…” I restated what he said.

 “So how do you think she was wrong about the bullets?” I added. 

“The bullets could’ve been dusted with silver grated silver, if it went through her that means it went through her blood. Could’ve gotten into her blood stream…But that’s a very slim chance. Maybe her body can’t take the injury. It did go through main organs.” Richard pointed out. 

 "True...But it doesn't explain why she's bleeding from scars that have already healed." He glanced over at me, shrugging. 

 "Maybe her body is focusing so much on healing the main organs, that once it's done healing she'll go back to normal." I shook my head. 

 "Judging by the fact that her eye turned completely black and the other filled up with blood it seems a little more serious." Paul nodded.

 "I agree with Jonas on this one." I sighed.

 "I'm gonna give her a day or two, to see if she'll be back in action, and if she isn't, I'm going to take another blood sample and see what the problem might be. Sound good?" I asked. 

 "Sounds fine." Till mumbled, looking back down at his book.  _We were probably annoying him._

"What did you guys get from the supply run?" I changed the subject. Paul grabbed the duffle bag, dropping it onto the table, hitting Till's book out of his hands. He grunted in frustration, leaving the kitchen with it under his arm. _Probably his back ache._ Paul unzipped his bag, turning it over, letting all the contents fall out onto the counter.  _Noodles, lots of them, pads, **understandable because Nova's a girl,** and...Condoms? _I looked up at Paul.

 "And why do you have Condoms in your bag?" I asked. He held them up.

 "Just in case Romeo and Juliette admit their love for each other. I don't think we want to bring a child into this hell hole." I smirked. 

 "You have a point there..." 

 ------

 I sat on the couch, reading the poetry book, in complete silence when I heard a loud groan come from Nova. I flipped the corner of the page to book mark it and placed it onto the table in front of me. I crouched beside her.

 "You alright?" She shook her head, opening her eyes, the her irises shining in the dim light. 

 "Can you bring me to Schneider?" She whispered. I nodded, slipping my arm under her legs, and the other behind her neck. She moaned in pain as I lifted her up off the couch. 

 "Sorry." I muttered, walking up the stairs slowly, so she didn't shake or anything. One we got up to the second level her nose started bleeding again. I winced, stopping at the washroom. She let out a long groan as I put her down on the counter, letting her back lean against the wall. She slid her hand across her nose, smearing the blood on her cheek. 

 "Okay just...Don't do anything, I'll take care of it." I warned, grabbing some toilet paper. She looked completely drained,  _literally lifeless._ I held the tissue under her nose, seeing her eyes close slightly.

 "Hey. It's better if you stay awake." I mumbled, seeing her eyes widen, then fall back to a normal state.

 "Just...Everything hurts." She complained, I nodded.

 "I know, but you'll be back to normal soon. It's just a little bump in the road." I reassured her, trying to provide some comfort. She began to cry.

 "Nothing will be normal. Schneider's never going to wake up, and I'm going to have to live with his death on my conscience because I didn't get to him fast enough." I sighed wiping her nose off, seeing that the bleeding stopped. I threw the toilet paper in the garbage and placed my forehead on hers.

 "Don't. Worry. Now come on, I'll take you to him." I wrapped my arms around her, lifting her up so her chin was on my shoulder. I walked out of the bathroom, towards Schneider's room. When we got to the door I slowly pushed it open, shuffling into the dark room. Schneider still looked quite pale, but the blue undertone was gone, which was a good sign. I pulled back the heavy blanket and placed her under it. 

 "Thank you Till." She croaked, as I gave her a small nod and walked out of the room. 

 ------

 I laid beside Schneider, my forehead on his shoulder. _It felt like I had no energy left in me, I'm not even able to see any memories._ I traced my hand over the scars on his chest, one by one, trying to relax my mind. I let out a shaky sigh, a tear slipping from the corner of my eye. _This is ho-_ My thought was interrupted by a slightly sleepy voice.

 "....I've been waiting for you." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... :) hope you guys enjoyed the chapter


	9. Family

 I looked up at him, my mouth agape. I threw my arms around him immediately, digging my face into his chest. Completely ignoring all the pain that it caused me.

 "Oh thank God you're alive." I felt his arms wrap around me.

 "Did you think I was dead?" He questioned. I nodded letting tears spill out of my eyes, the tears caused by the pain that my body was going through, and the relief that I had from hearing his voice. 

 "I thought injecting you with the blood didn't work." His hand trailed up and down my back soothing me.

 "It did...So stop crying." He whispered into my ear, continuing to run his hand up and down my back, I could've stayed like this for hours, but the pain was becoming unbearable, as the blood slowly soaked through my shirt. I felt Schneider move back. 

 "Jesus Christ Nova...You're bleeding." He blurted, looking down at my body, noticing the dark stains on my shirt. I shook my head, turning over. 

 "Just leave it." I mumbled. Schneider didn't take this well. 

 "No I'm not going to leave it, why are you bleeding!?" He asked.

 "I don't know." I whimpered, feeling a pulse of pain shoot through me, _I should be healed_. I let out a hiss, biting my bottom lip. 

"Nova...Let me see." Schneider whispered. No, he just woke up, he doesn't have to get involved in this. I shook my head, moving away from him further, which only caused him to come closer to me. I can't avoid this, just show him. I placed my hands on the bottom of my shirt, pulling it up, slightly, trying to shimmy it up my body.

"Here...I got it." I felt his cold hands touch my back, as he lifted the shirt up completely, revealing my bare back.

 "Jesus Christ Nova...What happened?!"

 "I was shot...I-I-I thought that it would heal, and it did...But when Paul and I were making our way back, I blacked out, and according to him they were trying to stop the bleeding. I lost a lot of blood, and now I can't heal...All the scars are bleeding and it won't stop." I cried, trying not to move. Schneider sighed, helping me turn over to face him. 

 "Okay...If you have the healing ability than that means I must have it right?" He asked. I gave him a small shrug. 

 "I guess so, but it only pertains to healing yourself, not me." I pointed out, wiping the tear stains on my face.

 "Well it's worth a try right? I don't think you'll be in as much pain as you're in right now." He looked down at the scars that Julius gave me, seeing the waterfall of blood oozing down the middle of my chest, all the way down my stomach, a puddle of blood staining the sheets. He winced at the sight, reaching his hand out, placing his palm on the first bullet wound. 

 "Okay...You ready?" I nodded slowly, adverting my gaze, trying not to be embarrassed under his stare. Reminder...There are no bras in the apocalypse...Like I said embarrassing. I began to tense up feeling a stinging sensation running through the wound, feeling it being healed back together inch by inch. It didn't hurt as much as I thought but it was a different type of pain...A feeling of helplessness. He moved his hand down to the next wound, smearing the blood down the now smooth skin. We continued this for a good ten minutes, until we reached the bullet holes. Which was a completely different story, judging by the fact that this was straight through me, and the others were just on the surface of my skin. He was about to place his hand on it, but I quickly stopped him.

 "No...Don't." He looked down at me.

 "Nova, we have to or you're not going to wake up in the morning, it's too serious to leave it." He warned, his blue eyes scanning over mine. I slowly let his arm go, signalling him to go ahead. He gave me a calm, comforting smile before placing one hand on my back, and one on the front, covering the bullet hole. A searing pain shot through me, causing me to let out a pain filled scream into his chest, digging my finger nails into his arm. He tensed up, letting out a shaky breath. 

 "You're lucky I love you, or else I would be drawing blood right now." I grunted in pain. Oh fuck. Oh. Fuck. What did I just do? I looked up at him, seeing him with a surprised look on his face. 

 "I-I-I'm...Never mind." I adverted my gaze again, eyes scrunching up in pain as another shot of pain ran through me. I could feel every inch of flesh slowly come together, my nose beginning to bleed, the sensations becoming so unbearable. Embarrassment, and pain, mixed together in a disgusting ball of emotions. I pulled back right after he was done.

 "Schneider I think I'm gonna throw up." I warned, placing my hand over my mouth, feeling the blood coming from my nose drip down my hand. He pulled his hands back, letting me run to the bathroom across from us. I turned on the light, immediately dropping to my knees, and hunched over the toilet, throwing up violently. I pulled back, blood floating around in the water. I felt Schneider's hand on my back.

 "Here, I brought you a t-shirt." I took the shirt into my hands, and quickly pulled it over my head, covering myself. 

 "I'll get you a towel." He mumbled, as I flushed the toilet, giving him a small nod. I held my stomach, breathing heavily, trying to ease the pain. He came back in the towel, placing it under some water before crouching down beside me again, handing me the cloth. 

 "Thanks." I mumbled, placing it on my upper lip, wiping the blood off. I closed my eyes tightly, a shot of discomfort running through my left side, the unhealed side. 

 "Are we gonna talk about what you said?" I opened my eyes, looking up at him.

 "There's nothing to talk about." My voice muffled against the cloth. He shuffled a little closer to me, our knees touching. 

 "Yes. There is." He insisted. I rolled my eyes.

 "It was a slip up...That's all." I replied. 

 "Your definition of a slip up is saying I love you?" He joked, raising his eyebrows. I could feel myself blush.

 "Y-Yes." I stuttered, pulling the cloth off my face. He grabbed it out of my hand, placing it on the ground beside us, bringing his gaze back up to mine. 

 "Well then...I love you too." He admitted quietly, glancing down, away from me. Finally. 

 "And now that we've cleared the air...Let's heal the last wound before you bleed out." He commented, trying to change the subject, leaving it for a later time. I nodded, as he reached out his hands, placing one hand on the front and the other on my back. Pain surged through me again, this time I was ready for it, leaning my forehead on his collarbone. 

 "You alright?" I nodded, focusing on his breathing, trying to match up with his, it's almost done. I closed my eyes, letting out a sigh of relief when I felt the pain disappear. 

 "And we're done...It wasnt that bad right?" I shook my head, pulling away from him. 

 "I need to grab a shower." I mumbled, which sent him a signal to go. He helped me get up before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. I leaned on the counter taking off the bloodied jeans, and shirt. Sliding the boxer shorts off my legs. I turned the water on, not caring about the temperature, as I stepped into the tub. Letting the water run over my body. 

 ------

 I pulled a t-shirt and jeans off before walking down the stairs, going straight into the kitchen to wash the blood off my hands. 

 "Sleeping Beauty is awake." Richard commented, smirking.

 "How did Nova react?" Paul asked raising his eyebrows. I gave him a small shrug

 "She was bleeding out and when I was healing her she blurted out 'You're lucky I love you' and she said something else after that but I kinda didn't hear her." I put my hands under the water, quickly scrubbing away the blood then turning the taps off.

 "Did you say anything back?" Till asked as he came into the kitchen. Holding a journal and pen in his hands.

 "I....I um...I said it back." I mumbled. Paul began to clap, Richard as well.

 "So is Romeo and Juliette going to..." Paul paused for a moment, pulling out a box of condoms.

 "Jesus Christ Paul! We haven't even kissed yet, and I want to take it slow if we're going to be in a relationship, or whatever you want to call it. So you can keep those condoms." Till laughed.

 "Yeah...Taking a relationship slow always works out." He said sarcastically. 

 "Those remarks will not be accepted here!" Richard yelled jokingly. I smirked. 

 "So where is she?" Richard questioned, turning back and forth in the stool. 

 "She's taking a shower, we're also going to need new sheets cause she bled all over them...If you see Jonas say sorry to him." Right after I said the sentence Jonas walked in.

 "Well you already did, and you're lucky I have lots of spares." He sat down on a stool beside Richard, running his hands through his hair.

 "Something bothering you?" Paul asked, glancing over at Jonas. He groaned sitting back to look at all of us. 

 "Those guys you ran into at that abandoned supermarket, I think they're tracking us." I looked at them confused.

 "What guys?" I asked. They all shot each other signals, glances, little shrugs.

 "The guy who shot Nova, and his men...I think they're scoping out the house." Jonas replied. 

 "We're going to have to move as soon as we can, tomorrow before dawn preferably. So I recommend that you guys grab as many clothes, as you can. I'll be in charge of the food." He added, getting up from the seat. 

 “I have a place that we can go to, but we just need to make it there, it’ll take a while.” I pushed off of the sink and nodded.

 “I’ll go tell Nova…If I’m not back down I’ll see you guys before dawn.” I walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs, seeing Nova come out of the bathroom, a big, fluffy white towel wrapped around her. She shook her head ridding it from the water droplets, causing me to let out a little laugh. She hopped up a little, gripping the towel to her chest as she turned around.

 “Don’t scare me like that!” She exclaimed turning red with embarrassment.

 “Sorry. I just came up to tell you that we need to be up at dawn. We’re moving tomorrow, so…We need to pack up clothes and stuff.” I explained, her face dropped a little.

 “We’re moving?” A hint of disbelief lacing her voice. 

 “Yeah…Jonas recommended it, it’s to keep us safe, we’ve been in the same place for a little too long.” I lied slightly, trying to not worry her about people being after us. 

 “Schneider…Please don’t lie to me.” She mumbled. 

 “Fine. Jonas thinks they’re watching us, the people that you and Paul met in the abandoned grocery store.” I responded. She didn’t react, she just gave a small nod, and went into the bedroom to change, closing the door behind her. I let out a small sigh, waiting a few minutes before entering. She had a short sleeve shirt on, that covered the boxer shorts that she was wearing. A pile of clothes sat beside her in a pile, and a duffle bag was in front of her, as she folded and placed t-shirts in neatly. I let out a small sigh, and sat on the other side of the bag, watching her fold, her damp hair hanging over her shoulder, as she forward to place a shirt in. 

 “What are you looking at?” She asked glancing up at me, her green eyes shimmering in the slightly dim light.

 “Y-You.” I stuttered out, blushing heavily, she did as well. She placed the t-shirt she held, into the duffle bag, adverting her gaze.

 “I need to ask you something…About when I was asleep.” I added. She nodded indicating for me to continue.

 “Did you…Stay with me the whole time?” She glanced up from the bag. 

 “Yes…” She replied.

 “Why though?” I pressed.

 “Because I was scared…That I was going to lose you.” She answered, folding another shirt, as she placed it into duffle bag, I lightly grabbed her wrist stopping her from moving back. She looked up from the bag, her forest green eyes scanning mine. I could feel her breath lightly brush over my face, go for it. I let her wrist go, and leaned forward, placing my lips onto hers, a slew of emotions coming over me at that moment, _love, lust, nervousness, I could go on forever_. She wrapped her arm around my neck, her hand meeting my shoulder, letting the kiss intensify. I moved the bag out of the way with my free hand, wrapping my arms around her, pulling her closer to me. I pulled away slowly, placing my forehead on hers, a large smile coming up on my face. She pulled her hand off my shoulder, bringing it up to my cheek, brushing her thumb under my eye. 

 “Wow.” She whispered under her breath, a light laugh following it. My hand tracing up and down the side of her torso, smirking. 

 “That good?” I raised my eyebrows, causing her to blush rapidly.

 “Um…Maybe we should…” She glanced at the bag.

 “…Continue to pack.” 

 We packed nearly all night, fitting all the clothes that we needed into the bag. The kiss pretty much cleared the tension for a little bit which was good for me, _I could say it was one of the good choices I’ve made, in a long time._

\------

 Dawn came quickly, and everyone pretty much forgot about waking up, except for Schneider and I, since we were already awake from packing all night. Schneider decided to take a shower, and I went to the kitchen to make some coffee for myself, to wake myself up a little bit. I walked by the couches seeing Till's legs hanging over the armrest, clutching a journal to his chest. snoring loudly. Paul was on the separate couch curled up in a ball sleeping, I walked into the kitchen, seeing Richard with his head on the counter, a peaceful look on his face.

 "Richard...Wake up." I shook him lightly. He groaned loudly, lifting his head up, looking down at the book he was reading.

 "God damn it I drooled on the page." He said sleepily, wiping the puddle of saliva off the page with his sleeve. He looked up from the book his eyes following me as I grabbed the espresso maker. 

 "Jesus Christ put some pants on." He joked, while I filled the bottom tier of the machine with coffee. 

 "Does Flake and Oliver know we're leaving today?" I asked, pouring water into the machine.

 "Yeah, Jonas told them before he went to sleep in the basement." He mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

 "Where's Romeo?" He questioned, watching me wave my hand over the flame so I could boil the coffee.

 "He's taking a shower." I replied. A smirk coming up on his lips.

 "Did you guys have a fun night?" I suppressed a laugh.

 "Unless folding and packing up jeans, t-shirts, sweaters, and boxer shorts is what you call a fun night than it was amazing." He laughed.

 "So what you're saying is nothing happened." I shrugged.

 "Maybe a kiss was exchanged, but that's all." He raised his eyebrows.

 "So is there some sort of relationship blossoming?" I grabbed two mugs from the cupboard.

 "It hasn't been spoken about, but it's a possibility." I poured him a cup for him and myself, sliding the mug over to him. He took a sip.

 "Translation of that sentence, is that there is a relationship and I'm expecting my first child." I chocked on the coffee, wiping my mouth off with the back of my hand.

 "Dick." I insulted in a joking manner. The kitchen door swung open, Schneider walking through the door dressed in a grey long sleeved shirt and black jeans. He grabbed my cup of coffee and took a quick sip.

 "I'm gonna go wake the guys up." Richard mumbled, as he grabbed his mug and walked out with it. I glanced up at Schneider who had a small smile on his face. 

 "What?" I quizzed. 

 "You know I have almost the exact same abilities you have...So I could hear what you two were talking about." My face going a light red.

 "And what were we talking about?" He raised his eyebrows.

 "A relationship blossoming." He answered, as I took a sip of coffee. 

 "...Yeah...What um...What do you think about that?" I muttered under my breath, scratching the back of my neck nervously.

 "I think that kiss should've given you an answer to that question." 

 "So that means...Yes?" He nodded, giving me a light peck on my lips. The kitchen door opened, and Flake walked in.

 "Morning guys. Are you two ready?" I looked down.

 "Let me just put some jeans on and we can be on our way." I ran up the stairs, grabbing a pair of jeans that I left in the dresser, pulling them on quickly, before bringing the duffle bag down, seeing all the guys at the door already. 

 "Okay, we need to quickly go over one thing before going out." Flake said. We all looked at him, Schneider sneakily grabbing my hand, as he spoke.

 "If we get separated just keep heading west. Stay in pairs, and stay undercover. Especially you Nova...You're our family now and I expect to see you in one piece by the end of this adventure." He commented. I gave him a smile, letting Schneider's soft hand go, so I could give him a hug.

 "You've finally come around eh?" I joked wrapping my arms around his thin figure. He laughed.

 "I just realized that I was quite rude to you when I shouldn't have been." Everyone got into the hug, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was part of a family.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally right? Sorry it took so long :) hope you guys enjoyed it! :)


	10. Reunion

 We left the house, slowly sneaking out around the back, following behind Jonas. The weather was dying down, becoming a little more tolerable, even though it was dawn, and it would usually be freezing. Schneider walked beside me, holding the heavy duffle bag on his shoulder, keeping an eye on his surroundings. I slid my hand into his, trying to test if I could see flashbacks, to no avail. I pulled my hand back staring at them.

 “What’s wrong?” He asked, looking down at me.

 “I can’t see your memories, or any flashbacks…” I replied, looking disappointingly at my palms. He sighed, intertwining his fingers with mine.

 “They’ll come back.” He reassured me, giving me a small comforting smile. I gave him a small nod, adverting my gaze, maybe he was right. 

 “Maybe? I know I am.” He whispered under his breath, I glanced up at him.

 "Reading my thoughts?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, 

 "Maybe...But like I said, they'll be back soon, then we will be able to read each others minds like no tomorrow. Do not worry." All of the sudden Till ducked behind the car, signalling us to get down. From the distance we could hear a tank, crunching the snow under it's tracks. 

 "Not again." I could hear the panic in Schneider's voice. I held his arm, trying to calm him down. 

 "Hush up Schneider or else they're going to hear us." Paul mumbled under his breath, warning him. The tank stopped, and we could hear the top of it open, people dropping to the floor, coming to where we were. There was a lot of movement, that's when someone spoke up. A male voice.

 "Dad?" I glanced behind me, looking over at Richard, his eyes wide, as he stood up. 

 "Merlin!" He hopped over the snowy car, pulling the tall, slightly handsome man, into his arms, hugging him tightly. We all stood up, realizing it was safe.

 "Daddy!" A little girls voice blurted. We all looked over, a young woman held a blonde haired and blue eyed girl in her arms. 

 "Maxime, Khira Li!" Richard let go of Merlin, running over to the young woman and the girl, hugging them.

 "Thank god you guys are okay!" He exclaimed, giving the little girl and the young woman a kiss on their foreheads.

 "Dad!" Another two female voices yelled from the tank, climbing out of it. Till threw his bag down, running over to them, wrapping his arms around them both.

 "Where's Little Fritz?" He asked. Both Schneider and I observed the beautiful reunion.

 "If you're confused, it's they're children." Schneider whispered, I laughed lightly.

 "Like I couldn't tell." I chuckled. Seeing a little boy run up to Till.

 "Emil!" Paul ran up to him, giving him a long hug. 

 "How did you guys get here?" He asked, pulling back, looking at the rest of the people.

 "The plane that we boarded made an abrupt stop just on the outskirts of Germany, we've been trying to find you guys ever since." Emil explained, looking over at Schneider and I. 

“Who’s this?” He motioned his head towards me, Paul turned around, smirking. 

 “This is Nova, she’s the brains of the group, apart from me of course.” He joked.

 “She’s cute.” I blushed lightly.

 “Easy Emil…” Schneider mumbled under his breath, gripping my hand a little tighter between his. 

 “Just joking Schneider.” I glanced over at Richard holding Maxime tightly. I didn’t know he had kids, nor did I know that Till also did. 

 “Wait…That name Nova, rings a bell.” Merlin blurted, looking over at me, which caused everyone else to look over at me. Khira Li squinted at me, scanning my features, her eyes widening when she figure out who I was.

 “You’re…Dad you guys are harbouring the cure.” Khira Li exclaimed, glaring at Richard.

 “It’s not like that. Do you know what they would do to her if they got her?” Richard argued raising his eyebrows. 

 “If you give her to the right people she could save lives!”  In slight fear, I squeezed Schneider’s hand tightly, signalling to him that I was starting to get uncomfortable with the argument that was about to ensue.

 “Guys. How about we celebrate being reunited, and not talk about this?” Schneider interrupted, before Richard could say anything. Till nodded.

 “Schneider’s right. We have food, and we were just going to a different safe house…You guys should come with us.” He suggested. They all looked at each other, giving small nods. 

 “Alright…We’ll follow behind you guys with the tank.” Nele replied, walking away from us, climbing back into the tank, the rest of them following behind her.

 “Well…That was intense.” I concluded, following Jonas into the small town.

 “Maybe we should look around the stores, see if we can salvage anything.” He held his fist up signalling the tank to stop. We all separated dropping our bags in the middle, Schneider and I going into one of the small pharmacies. The place was almost empty, a few pill bottles of ibuprofen which we took of course. There was never enough ibuprofen. We walked to the back of the store, seeing a counter smeared with blood.

 “This is not good.” Schneider acknowledged, looking behind it. He walked around, bending down to pick something up. He placed a torn up leather wallet onto the bloodied counter, he instantly smiled as he opened it.

 “Aw, what an adorable little girl.” He handed it to me, and my gaze immediately peered at photo of a little girl, with long blonde hair, with two big green eyes, her two front teeth missing. I felt a harsh pain in my head start to arise, as I went into a flashback

  _“Dad I need some money.” I heard my voice call out from the living room. I looked over seeing myself walk into the kitchen, my hair was a dark blue, tied up in a bun, some strands falling in front of my face.  I walked over to my dad leaning against the counter, with a small smile. He was stirring a pot of sauce, as he dug into his back pocket with his other hand, holding out the wallet._

_“Only twenty euro, no more than that.” He warned, pushing his grey speckled hair out of his face. I saw myself grab the wallet and open it, noticing the photo._

_“Dad! Why do you have a picture of me when I was six?” I groaned in embarrassment. He let out a light laugh._

_“Maybe I just want to see how my daughter looked before she went out and dyed her hair blue.” He joked. I took out the twenty euros, and placed it on the counter, giving him a light kiss on the cheek._

_“Thanks dad.” Then I ran out the door._

 “Nova!” Schneider yelled, snapping me out of my trance. I dropped the wallet, looking up at him.

 “This is me.” I pointed at the picture.

 “And this is my dad’s wallet.” I added, accidentally placing my hand in the smeared blood. I paused for a moment, lifting my hand up, seeing it stained with the crimson red blood. 

 “Schneider this is fresh.” I held my hand up to his face so he could see the shimmer. He turned around.

 “There’s a trail.” I literally hopped over the counter, following it.

 “Nova…Wait I don’t think yo-.”

 “Shhh.” I continued to follow the trail, right out the back door, into the alleyway between the two buildings. I heard a loud grunt, causing me to run towards it.

 “Nova are you crazy!” Schneider ran behind me. I stopped abruptly, feeling him run into my back. I noticed his grey fluffy hair right away, hearing the grunt. I saw him shuffle around, revealing his face, his left cheek was ripped off, blood dripping from the fresh flesh. I could see his teeth right through the hole. I felt my heart stop, looking at his dead blue eyes, they were lifeless. I felt tears sting my eyes.

 “D-D-Dad.” I stuttered, dropping to my knees, Schneider held his arm out, catching me before I fell onto my face. I heard a small groan that turned into a small whimper come out of his mouth, as he dropped to his knees and slowly crawled over to me. My head tilted to the side in confusion, moving Schneider’s arm off of me.

 “Nova…What are you doing?” I hushed him, holding out my hand.

 “F-Florence.“ He grumbled out, almost incomprehensibly, Florence? That’s when a gun shot rang through my ears, his blood splattering on my face. 

 “Dad!” I screamed, seeing him fall backwards onto the ground. I looked up from his lifeless body, seeing Emil, his eyes wide open, realizing what he had done.

 “Nova…I didn’t…” I got up, full of anger, and rage, stomping towards him. I was about to hit him, but Schneider intercepted the hand, grabbing it.

 “You fucking bastard!” I screamed, being pulled away by him. I cried even harder, looking behind me at my father’s limp body. I dug my face into Schneider’s chest, sobbing. Feeling his hand stroke the back of my head. 

 “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know!” Emil explained. I pulled away from Schneider, walking back over to my dad, crouching down beside him, seeing a small picture peeking out from his button up shirt. I slowly grabbed it, Schneider crouching down beside me, as I pulled the picture out. Seeing my teenage self in a black graduation cap, and matching gown. Feeling a small migraine shoot through my head.

  _“Aww Florence! You look amazing in this!” My mother exclaimed. **Florence. My…My name.**_

__ _“Mom! Give me a break, it’s not an accurate representation of me.” I pointed at my eyebrows._

_"They edited out my eyebrow piercings." She laughed lightly, touching the two pieces of metal on my eyebrow._

_"You look good with them and without them. Any photo is a good representation of my baby." She caressed my cheek._

I faded out of my flashback staring at the photo.

 "Florence..." I whispered under my breath. Schneider took the picture out of my hands, turning it over, seeing 'Florence 2013 scrawled on the back in thick black lettering. I saw a small smile appear on Schneider's lips.

 "Florence." He repeated. _Reminding me of when he first called me Nova._ I wiped my tears off my cheeks, feeling Schneider's arm wrap around me. I placed the photo back into my dad's chest pocket, pulling Schneider into a hug. Letting out a small helpless cry. 

 "It's okay...Let it all out." He cooed, running his hand up and down my back. I heard footsteps crunching in the snow. 

 "Nov-." I quickly interrupted Richard.

 "It's Florence." I whimpered under my breath.

 "Florence...Emil didn't mean to, he didn't know. He thought he was going to bite you." He explained, also rubbing my back, like Schneider. 

 "I don't think now is the best time Reesh." Schneider's voice vibrated through his chest, warning Richard. 

 "It's fine...I'm fine. Let's just...Continue walking to the safe house." I mumbled, pulling away from him. He helped me up, grabbing my hand as we walked over to the tank. I adverted my gaze, not looking at anyone, while Schneider picked up the duffle bag, handing it onto his shoulder.

 "Let start walking again." Jonas nodded, agreeing with him. He raised his hand, waving the tank, so they would start following us. Richard and Paul were whispering to each other, and Till got involved, then Oliver and Flake. Only person not talking was Schneider, but that was probably because I was right beside him.

 "Florence...Emil really feels bad." Paul spoke quietly. I raised my hand, signalling him to stop.

 "...It's fine...And please...I really don't want to be called Florence...I like Nova." I whispered. Paul gave me a small nod.

 It took hours upon hours, to get to the safe house, and by the time we arrived it was right in the middle of night time. The kids parked the tank on the street, joining us at the front door. 

 "It doesn't look that big, but it's huge on the inside." Jonas explained, unlocking the front door, pushing it open. Immediately I went upstairs to the bedrooms, desperately wanting to be alone. I could hear Schneider follow behind me, and before I could shut the door he stepped in, dropping the bag on the ground. I threw myself on the bed, crawling under the covers, surrounding myself in the simulated warmth of the heavy blankets. I heard a small sigh from Schneider, as I unbuckled my jeans and took them off throwing them on the ground. 

 "Nova...It's better if you spend time with us..." I turned over looking at him.

 "I don't feel like it is...I just want to be alone." He laid down beside me, on top of the covers.

 "I know how it feels to lose someone, but cutting yourself off from people is not going to help the situation, come downstairs, you don't even have to talk to anyone, just be with us." He advised. I looked up at him.

 "Schneider...Please just...Just let me stay up here for the night. It's late anyways, so what's the point in going down, if everyone is going to go to bed anyways." I could see his face turn into a look of defeat. 

 "You have a point." He mumbled, getting up off the bed to close the door, turning off the lights in the room so it was completely dark. I could see his shadow move around, hearing his belt hit the wooden floor. I felt the blankets being lifted up, his legs intertwining with mine as he joined me. I placed my hand on his chest, feeling the scarred tissue beneath my fingers. I felt him tense up.

 "Where did you get these from?" I asked, a serious tone lacing my voice, trying to get my mind off the feeling of grievance that dawned on me, hanging over my shoulder. He let out a small sigh.

 "After my son, and wife died...I pushed everyone away, just like you are doing right now. One night I left the house to go grab supplies, I found some of course, but I didn't realize that I was stealing from a group. They caught me red handed, and when I tried to put up a fight they beat the living shit out of me, to the point where I was completely knocked out. I woke up the next morning, with these huge, bleeding gashes on my chest. I went back home, and Richard stitched me up. I learned from it, and that's why we always go in pairs now when we go on supply runs." I traced my finger along the long scar, that went from his left pectoral muscle all the way to the end of his right, thinking hard about everything that had happened today. I could feel my nose begin to leak, feeling myself begin to black out.

 "No-." Schneider's voice cut off.

 ------

 "We need to bring her to the outskirts of Germany." Nele spoke from the kitchen, boiling a pot of water on the stove.

 "Nele we can't. You don't know what they will do to her if we brought here there." I claimed.

 "Paul, they are trained scientists. They won't kill her like some people...Do you know how many people she could save if they created a cure from her blood?" She exclaimed, glancing around at everyone else.

 "I don't think Schneider will be pleased if we brought her there. He loves her." Till commented. 

 "What's more important Dad, his love life, or humanity?" We all looked at Till. _She was right._

"Nele, you have a point, but I will repeat my statement again. You don't know what they will do to her if we brought her there. They might have to kill her to get all the blood." She gazed over at me.

 "Paul what's more important, one life, or thousands of lives." Nele argued. I stared at her, glancing over at Till.

 "Nele has a point." Merlin added from the kitchen. We stared at each other, all of us exchanging glances.

 "Band meeting. Now." Flake announced, getting up from his spot on the couch, walking down stairs. All of us followed him. Till closed the door behind us, taking a spot with us around the table. 

 "She is family, and we are not going to abandon her, no matter what your daughter says." Flake stated, slamming his fist onto the table.

 "She has a point though Flake. Think about it." Till suggested.

 "I already have thought about it, I thought about it for a while, and then I realized how happy she made us, and how she pulled Schneider out of the infinite sadness. God only knows how long she has before the infection takes over,, cause in all honesty those nose bleeds aren't a good sign." He commented.

 "So what's the point in dragging her down to the outskirts of Germany, if she will spend her last days being a fucking lab rat." Flake added, staring at Till.

 "We don't know if that's the infection taking over, it could just be side effects to all that blood loss, it's only been a day since she got two fucking bullets shot through her. Right now I am on Nele's side." We looked over at Till, giving him a small nod, acknowledging his position.

 "What about the rest of you?" We glanced around at each other.

 "I think she should stay with us, it is much safer than just giving her to some random people. We don't even know if they have the equipment to make mass injections of this cure." Richard replied. 

 "I also think she should stay with us, nobody is going to be able to look out for her there. You heard what Nele said, they only take women and children, not us. So not even Schneider could go with her to protect her." Till sighed. 

 "Okay...We don't have to bring her to the lab right away...So we have time to think about this. To really see if we are making the right choices here." We all nodded, agreeing with him. 

 "But just remember, don't talk to Schneider about this right now. He's happy, and I want to keep it that way." Flake added. _His thought process wasn't completely in line. He was going to figure this out anyways, and he was probably going to end up being sad with the end result, because either way deep down inside, we know which answer is right, we just don't want to say it or acknowledge it, even though Till has._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Remember when I was talking about making a new story? Well it's finally up! It's called Engel. I hope you guys enjoy that one!
> 
> What do you guys think about this chapter? I would love to hear your opinions!


	11. Memories

 I slowly came to conciseness, submerged in cold water, I looked at the bright light on the ceiling. Where the fuck am I? I sat up, looking down at my bloodied body. Jesus Christ. I glanced around at the washroom, seeing a trail of blood on the porcelain white floor, leading up to the bathtub I was in. Was this all from my nose bleed? I stared at my shirtless body, scanning the slightly raw scars that covered my skin. They opened up again? I dragged my fingers across them, trying to heal myself, as the door opened. I looked up, seeing Schneider walk in angrily, gripping the hem of his t-shirt, slamming the door behind him, which caused me to jump a little. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

 “You okay?” I asked quietly. He glanced over at me, letting out a small sigh trying to calm himself down. 

 “Yeah…I’m fine.” He replied, walking over to me, crouching down beside the tub so he was beside me. He placed his hand under his chin, staring at the wall in front of him. I reached my hand up slowly, placing it onto his cheek. 

 “We don’t have to bring her to the lab right away…So we have time to think about this. To really see if we are making the right choices here.” Till spoke.

 “But just remember, don’t talk to Schneider about this right now. He’s happy, and I want to keep it that way.” Flake added. 

 I pulled my hand back quickly. His eyes scanned mine, an apologetic look painted on his face.

 “They…They want to get rid of me?” I stuttered, looking up at him, placing my hand back into the water. 

 “I don’t know…But I promise that if that's what the case is I will do as much as I possibly can to prevent it.” I adverted my gaze from his. Maybe it was for the best. 

“It’s not.” He blurted. 

 “Stop reading my mind Schneider, now is not the time.” I mumbled under my breath, crossing my arms over my half naked body. 

 “Sorry…” He murmured. We sat there in silence for what felt like hours as I thought about what I was going to say next. I was starting to think about how selfish it was. Humanity could be saved, loads of innocent people could be protected. I looked up at Schneider, his gaze meeting mine, as I took a deep breath.

 “I know it’s hard for you to admit, but I'm the cure…Think about all the people that can be saved Schneider, if I brought myself in sooner I could've saved my dad.” He closed his eyes, taking in a shaky breath.

 “I know.” He replied in a small whisper. I felt terrible about what I was saying, I didn’t want to put him through hell by leaving him, nor did I want to be the one to blame if the rest of humanity dies off. I felt his hand dip down into the water, and grab mine, holding it between his.  

 “Nova…If it’s what you want, I’m not going to stop you.” He claimed, running his thumb along the back of my hand. The pace of my heart slowly sped up, as I sat up, his face inches away from mine. He gave me a small comforting smile, leaning forward, placing his forehead on mine.

 "It's not like I won't miss you, but like I said...If you really want to give this a try I'm not going to keep you away from doing that." He reassured me. I didn't want to leave him, in all honesty I didn't, I love him, but if I'm going to be putting him and everyone else around me in danger, I might as well give myself up, and let them create the cure. Schneider reached his free hand up, placing it on my cheek.

 "I'm definitely going to miss you actually." I nodded.

 "I know...I'll miss you too." I whispered. He leaned forward a little, lightly brushing his lips against mine. I sat up a bit, his breath tracing over my lips. He pressed his lips to mine, hunger and lust lacing the heated kiss. He moaned lightly against it, his thumb tracing my cheek, pulling back.

 "Maybe you should take a shower, you're kinda soaking in your blood." He joked looking down at the crimson water. I nodded agreeing with him, pulling back. Schneider stood up from his spot and backed up, giving me a small smile, as he exited the bathroom, leaving me to take a shower. I took my jeans and boxers off, draining the dark red water out of the tub. I turned the taps, warm water shooting out of the shower head, the stains on the tub being washed off. I stepped under the heavy flow of water, letting it run down my back, the water comforting me.

 ------

 I walked down the stairs, seeing Nele sitting on the couch, holding Little Fritz who was sleeping. I didn't want to get into an argument with her, so I made my way to the kitchen where Till, Oliver, Flake, Richard, and Paul sat around the island. They all looked at me, smiling.

 "You were up there for a while." Paul winked. I didn't say anything back. Their smiles slowly faded.

 "What's wrong?" Till asked, scrunching his eyebrows together.

 "Nova has decided that she wants to go to the lab on the outskirts of Germany." Flake and Paul's eyes widened.

 "What?" They said in unison, glancing over at each other. 

 "She wants to go..." I mumbled.

 "You didn't hear...The conversation we were having did you?" I played stupid.

 "What conversation?" They didn't reply.

 "It was her decision. She brought it up." They all nodded. Not saying anything. I gave them a small smile.

 "So when are we going to leave?" Richard asked, clapping his hands together. 

 "I don't know...Whenever she decides to leave we will." I shrugged. Paul dug around in his bag, pulling out the box of condoms, throwing them at me.

 "You're probably going to need them, if you two are going to be separated somethings gonna happen in the sex department, so don't complain that I'm giving them to you okay?" I nodded, catching them. I didn't say anything, just blushed heavily, hearing the water turn off from upstairs. I put the pack of condoms in the waist band of my jeans.

 "I guess you haven't heard me every time I said that I want to take it slow." I commented.

 "It's just in case she doesn't want to take it slow, you know a relationship isn't always one sided. She's got feelings that need to be satisfied too." Till informed, smirking. I rolled my eyes. 

 "I get it but...I don't think she wants that with me, it's also the apocalypse for Christ sake." I said under my breath, scratching the back of my neck. 

 "Pssh Schneider stop making excuses. She's always attached to your hip, vice versa. She probably wants to, and you're just making up excuses and ignoring her advances." Richard mumbled taking a sip of his water. He was right in a sense, that kiss we shared in the bathroom was intense, if I didn't stop and make the excuse of her needing to taking a shower cause she was soaking in her own blood basically, I don't think I would've been able to control myself.

 "I don't think so." I lied.

 "Well if she decides to act on her feelings you've got protection." Till laughed giving me a pat on my back. I gave them a small nod.

 "I'm going to go upstairs now...Cause I'm quite exhausted from all that walking today." I explained.

 "Night guys." I added, walking out of the kitchen, traveling up the stairs towards our bedroom. I poked my head into the room, noticing that Nova was already huddled up beneath the covers, only noticing her hair poking out from underneath them. I unbuckled my jeans, putting the box of condoms in the top drawer of the dresser under several pairs of boxers, and slid the jeans off of my legs, putting them to the side. I took my shirt off, and folded it up, placing it on the bench in front of the bed, making my way over to her. I pulled back the covers slowly, sliding in behind her, placing my arm over her small body. I could feel her hand place itself on my arm, slowly tracing it with the tips of her fingers.

 "You okay?" I asked quietly, sliding my arm under her pillow, pulling her closer to me. She shook her head, sniffling.

 "I'm not okay." She whispered into the darkness, clutching my arm, a few tears dropping onto my arm. I placed my forehead on her back.

 "I can't stop seeing my father...I can't stop seeing what happened. I tried to sleep, but I can't get the image out of my head." I pulled her closer to me, her back pressed up against my chest. 

 "What can I do to help?" I asked concerned, she shrugged, holding my hand. 

 "Tell me something good." Immediately I thought back to our touring days. Trying to think of the funny stories, the memories that were made. There was so many that I could tell her. 

 "We have a song called pussy, you must've heard it when Jonas let you listen to Liebe Ist Für Alle Da right?" She nodded, tracing my arm with her finger tips still. 

 "Really catchy." I smirked to myself, and continued.

 "Well. During the concerts...Till decided to have a huge penis canon made for the concert, that shot out foam, or suds. People used to go crazy when it was brought down. Till used to get on it, and go from side to side, one time it didn't work, which was quite an interesting situation." She laughed, I laughed with her realizing how funny it really was. 

 "You guys really were a riot." I nodded. 

 "Oh yeah...Definitely. Till used to whip himself on stage when we were starting to become big...He enjoys the pain though. You know how he is by now I think." I explained. 

 "Very protective " She added, reaching up to my hand that was under the pillow, sliding her fingers between them. 

 "Do you miss it?" It was a hard question to answer, I miss making music, I miss playing drums, I miss touring, but sometimes...I don't miss it. 

 "Sometimes...I miss the adrenaline, but sometimes I think about how...Normal I feel now." Her thumb traced the outside of my hand. I could feel the conversation was going towards a sadder side.

 "Turn over, let me show you something." I pulled my arm out from under the pillow, as she turned over to face me, her large, green eyes peering up at me. I held out my hand. 

 "I'm only going to take it if you tell me what you're doing." She joked. I rolled my eyes. 

 "It's a surprise. Now grab my hand." She sighed, placing her hand onto mine, sending the both of us into one of my memories. 

 I could see myself holding Flake, Till, Oliver, and Paul on the leash, dressed up as "The Frau." I glanced over at Nova, her hand over her mouth, laughing at me of course. 

 "That wig and red lipstick really suits you." She giggled. I smiled, watching me kick Paul off the platform onto the center stage. Nova looked around her, seeing the giant crowd.

 "Holy shit." She muttered. I could feel the bass run through my chest, pumping through my veins, watching myself take a seat behind the drums, pulling my yellow headphones over my ears. I turned my eyes to Nova seeing that she was completely invested now, her attention on the stage, her green eyes shining with amazement. Which meant that's we were going to be here, in this memory...All night.

 ------

 My eyes slowly opened the next morning, the dim sunlight being let into the room through the curtains. Schneider's light snoring echoing in my ears, we must've fallen asleep sometime during his memory last night. I raised my head, looking up at him, his mouth hung open slightly, his face in a fairly peaceful state. I cuddled back into him, my hand gliding up and down his back, as light as a feather. He let out a soft moan, his arms tightening around me.

 "Schneider...Last night was amazing." I whispered. He laughed lightly, running his hand up and down my lower back.

 "I'm glad it took your mind off things." He replied softly. We stayed in that state for quite some time, before he let out a low gravelly groan.

 "I think I should hit the shower before everyone else does." He mumbled, in a sad tone. I gave him a quick peck on the lips, watching him slide out of the bed, my eyes following his muscular back out the door. I let out a small sigh, getting up out of the bed. Taking the time to change before he got out of the shower. I opened up the bottom drawer grabbing a light blue short sleeved shirt, throwing it over on the bed. I took a pair of black jeans out of the middle drawer, putting them beside the shirt. Then I got to the top drawer, where the underwear was. I went to grab a pair, noticing that the end of a dark bluish box stuck out slightly from beneath the boxers. My eyebrows knitted together, as I moved them back, revealing a box of condoms.  _Oh Jesus Christ._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Sorry it took so long. It's a busy time of year.


	12. Tomorrow

 I finished my shower, and stepped out, wrapping a towel around my waist. I rubbed the fog off the mirror, staring at my reflection. I splashed some cold water on my face, rubbing my eyes. I let out a sigh, drying my face off with one of the wash cloths. My hair was becoming longer and longer by the day, I pushed it out of my eyes, cracking my back, before leaving the washroom. I closed the light, and shuffled my way towards our room. I opened the door, immediately noticing Nova jump, putting her arm behind her back. She was only wearing a pair of boxers and a blue t-shirt. I raised my eyebrows and widened my eyes. 

 "What are you doing?" I asked, closing the door behind me, and walking over to her. Her face went red immediately.

 "Umm...Nothing!" I moved a little closer to her, as she backed up, into the wall behind her. I bit my bottom lip, wrapping my arm around her, pulling her towards me to grab the contents that was in her hand. She struggled against me, until I finally grabbed it out of her tight grip. Pulling it out from behind her. _The pack of condoms._

"Oh..." I mumbled, glancing up from the box into her big green eyes that were full of confusion.

 "I didn't mean to find it...I wasn't looking for..." I held my hand up, signaling her to stop.

 "Don't worry...I know." She blushed even harder, and walked around me, taking a seat on the bed. I knew that it would bother her. I sighed, and dropped the box beside her, walking around the bed, so I could change before I spoke to her about the situation at hand. I pulled on a t-shirt, a pair of boxer shorts, and some jeans, folding up my towel. I sat beside Nova, leaving some space between us. She glanced down at the box.

 "Were you planning on telling me that you had a box of expired condoms in our dresser?" She whispered under her breath

 "First off...I didn't know they were expired, and second I was going to bring it up to you, but I guess I was just over thinking it." She looked up at me, eyebrows knitted together.

 "Were you over thinking cause you didn't want to bring sex up, or were you over thinking because you thought I would turn you down because of what happened to me with Julius and his men?" I let out a small sigh and shrugged.

 "Its a little bit of both." I replied, embarrassed. She took note of this and slid her fingers in between mine.

 "Schneider...You're not Julius, or any other guy. I love you, so I can assure you, that I would not turn you down. Just...The one thing that makes me concerned is why you don't want to talk about it. Do you not want to have that connection with me?" I sighed loudly, dropping my back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. 

 "It's not like I don't want to. Believe me Nova, I do. I just don't want you to regret it, and think it's a mistake." She peered over at me, and laid down beside me. Her eyes scanning over my face. I looked down at our hands, then back up at her. 

 "I would never think that Schneider. I want this." She chuckled, her grip tightening around my hand.

 ------

 I moved towards him, his blue eyes watching my every move, I let his hand go, my hand meeting his cheek, as I gently kissed him. Immediately getting a reaction from him.

 "Nova...Don't start something you won't be able to stop." He warned. I rolled my eyes, getting on top of him, straddling his waist. I leaned down, placing my warm lips on his. I felt his hands hold the back of my thighs, as I dragged my hand down his cheek. I pulled back.

 "Listen if you're..." He leaned up and kissed me. I moved him back.

 "If you're actually uncomfortable we don't have to do this...I feel like I'm  pressuring you." He stopped for a moment, like he was thinking about it, and shook his head, leaning back up, hungrily kissing my lips. He sat up, and lifted me, placing the back of my head onto the pillow. He grabbed the comforter, lifting it over us, a wave of cool air hitting my legs, feeling the sheets briefly caress my body. He got back on top of me, his body cushioned between my legs, the fabric of his jeans rubbing against my inner thighs. One arm held himself up so he wasn't crushing me under him. My hands found their way to the hem of the shirt he just changed into, and pulled it up over his head, throwing it off the side of the bed. Our kiss was heated, filled with burning passion that would've been extinguished if we had not just spoken about what we wanted. _Now there was nothing stopping us._ My hands raced up his slightly toned back, tracing every small crevice that I could feel, until I reached the back of his head, entangling my fingers into his hair. He pulled back briefly, his lips finding their way to my neck, as his hands roamed over my shirt, slowly moving them down to the end of my shirt, shimmying it over my head, I leaned forward which helped him pry it off my body, throwing it over his shoulder. His eyes roamed over me, taking in my shirtless body, as I laid back down, pulling him in for a soft, passionate kiss, my heart racing against his. His hands roamed up the side of my torso, sending shivers up and down my spine, a warmth surging in my stomach, as he pulled his lips from mine. I opened my eyes, looking up into his, seeing a glimmer of lust dance across his gaze, a small comforting smile forming on his lips, as my fingers twirled his locks of hair between them.

 "You're so beautiful." He whispered, kissing up my arm, all the way to my protruding collarbones. I felt my breath hitch in my throat, feeling his moist lips trailing down a little lower, inch by inch, and right before he reached my breast, a knock echoed through the room. Schneider pulled back slightly, my hands still entangled in his hair. 

 "Um yeah?" He called out to the person behind the door, keeping his eyes glued to mine.

 "Your turn for the supply run." Paul chimed, from the other side. Schneider groaned against my chest, disappointment slowly appearing in his eyes.

 "Okay...I'll be out in a minute." He replied back, lifting himself up off of me, as I untangled my fingers from his hair. He stayed positioned between my legs for a few moments, before giving me a light peck on my lips, sadness lacing every moment of it. 

 "We'll continue this tonight." He reassured, slipping out of the bed. He bent down to retrieve his shirt from off the ground, pulling it over his head. I sat up, clutching the covers against my shirtless body, as I watched him cover up his toned body. 

 "I'm looking forward to it." I blurted absentmindedly, he laughed, standing up from the bed. He handed me my shirt, and gave me a small kiss on my forehead. 

 "Be back soon." He proceeded to walk out of the bedroom, leaving me alone. I smiled to myself, and pulled on my shirt, throwing the covers off of me.

 -----

 I walked outside with Paul, who had a duffel bag hanging on his shoulder, staring into space. I closed the door behind me, garnering a small jump from Paul.

 "Took you long enough." He murmured, handing me the bag. I rolled my eyes, putting the bag over my shoulder, hoping that we could get back as soon as possible with no troubles or anything. We walked in silence for a few moments, just the sound of the bag hitting the side of my leg. Paul glanced over at me.

 "Actually...Why did it take you so long to come down?" He asked curiously. I shrugged.

 "I was just talking with Nova." I answered casually, sneakily covering up what we were doing. He let out a small chuckle.

 "Sure you were. I would ask for you to swear, but in all honesty I will always know the truth." He joked, as we crossed over the boarder into the town. We stuck together, going into the several stores, collecting as much food as we can, since there was now so many people living in the house with us. The one duffel bag was full of several canned food items, ranging from soup, to presumably overcooked pasta. It was quite heavy, but we were completely grateful for how much we got, we didn't even care about the taste anymore.

 "So when are we bringing Nova to the lab?" He asked, automatically reminding me about her leaving, and it also brought up the fact that I need to ask her when she wants to go. I gave a small shrug.

 "She hasn't said anything to me about a date or anything, she hasn't mentioned anything since she brought it up actually." I replied, continuing to follow him. Paul glanced over at me.

 "Listen...I just want you to know that I voted for her not to go, I was completely against it. I know how happy she makes you." He murmured. I didn't say anything, I just nodded, acknowledging what he said.

 "It's just that Nel-." He was about to continue but I interrupted.

 "Paul...She was the one that brought it up. She had the idea, and she wants to go...There is no way that I will be able to change that, so I'm not going to try..." I explained, the conversation ending quickly. No interruptions occurred during that time, which was shocking, yet amazing because it only meant that we would get back quicker. I could hear the chaos from the house, an argument about the past, which wasn't rare when everyone was together. Paul unlocked the door, the both of us entering the house. 

 "I'm telling you, I remember you having burned all over your back, don't bullshit me!" Richard yelled from the kitchen, noticing Till on the couch rolling his eyes. Nova smirked, looking back and forth throughout the argument that was ensuing, her glancing stopped when she noticed me in the entrance way. She bit her lower lip, a small dusting of red appearing on her cheeks. I walked to the kitchen, placing the duffel bag onto the island. Richard looked at me as I began unpacking the contents and handing it to him.

 "You guys hit the jackpot." He commented, putting a few cans into one of the empty cupboards. I took out some more, piling them on the counter. 

 "Yeah definitely," I replied, kinda distractedly. I looked over at Nova from the kitchen, seeing her laughing at Till's short rant. Richard noticed this fairly quickly, following my gaze. Her eyes met mine, a small smile forming on her face.

 "What did you guys do? You two seem fairly happy." He nudged me, I raised my eyebrows, glancing over at him.

 "We haven't done anything. We are just happy." He let out a small laugh. 

 "Sure." He said sarcastically, continuing to put everything away.

 "Just be careful...Remember she's leaving." He reminded me, like Paul did. I nodded.

 "Yeah...I know." 

 ------

 The rest of the day went by so quickly, probably because of the excitement that was still built up, ready to be let go. I went to bed early, using the excuse of me being a little exhausted so I could sneak up by myself. Immediately when I reached the bedroom I took my shirt and pants off, so we could skip that step all together, just in case there was going to be any interruptions like this morning. I got under the covers, engulfing me in the smooth sheets. I waited a few moments until I heard the door open, Schneider entering the room, a small excited smirk on his face. Our eyes met, the both of us smirking like morons. I could see him look down at the ground, seeing my pants and top were already on the ground.

 "Well...Someone's excited." He joked, making his way over to me, kicking off his shoes, and taking off his socks. My eyes followed him, as he slowly lifted the covers, and conquered the space beside me. He leaned in for a passionate kiss, not wanting to waste anymore time. Instantly I pulled him on top of me, spreading my legs so he could cushion himself between them. The fabric of his shirt rubbed against my breasts feeling my nipples slowly harden. He pulled back, my hands racing to the hem of his shirt immediately, he helped me take it off of him, revealing his slightly toned muscles, I crumpled it up in my hands, throwing it over his shoulder, while he leaned back down, taking my lips between his, lust filling the both of us. His warm chest was against mine, his heart beating out of his chest, mine as well. He licked my bottom lip, as I separated my lips, letting his tongue roam my mouth. I could feel the tips of his fingers running down the side of my torso, then back up slowly, his hand making it's way towards my breast. He pulled back, leaving a trail of kisses from my lips, over my cheek, and down my neck, within the process of this I could feel my breathing become heavier and quickened, letting out a small moan of pleasure as his tongue meets one of my nipples, gently flicking it. His hand carefully tracing the opposite breast. I arched my back against him, entangling my fingers into his hair, his arm slipping under the space between the bed and the small of my back.

 "Oh god Schnei..." I moaned, not even having the breath to say his name completely. He slowly changed positions, his lips trailing kisses over the center of my chest to the opposite breast, his fingers tracing the other one now. I could feel my body grow in heat, my temperature rising like I was going to slip into a fever, I gave his hair a light tug, all these new, satisfying sensations coming over me like a storm. He gently nipped at my nipple, and pulled back, deciding to venture down further, crawling backwards, leaving a light trail of kisses down my stomach, stopping at my lower half. I felt his fingers hook under my boxer shorts, pulling them down my legs, I could feel myself get nervous, and embarrassed as he pulled them off my legs. There was a huge sense of vulnerability, feeling his lips leaving light kisses on my inner thighs, his hand caressing my leg. I gave his hair another pull, my teeth biting down on my bottom lip like I was going to draw blood. I felt his lips form a smile as he reached my burning area. His fingers slowly traced the outer part of my leg, as he ran his tongue up the length of my lips, gently flicking my clit at the end of the first stroke. I shook beneath him, not expecting my body to react in the way it did. I arched my back up, as his tongue slowly moved over my sensitive area, an involuntary moan escaping my lips. I closed my eyes tightly, my brain was clouded by lust and erotic desire, my body was on full alert, buckling up against him. He reached a hand up, holding my waist down so I wasn't twitching under him every couple of seconds. I felt a finger tracing up and down my slit, pushing it in gently. I gasped, getting caught off guard by his actions. He smiled against me, his tongue quickening the speed, as he moved his finger in and out, bending it up. I let out a long indulging moan, both my hands digging into his hair, yanking, and entangling my fingers through it. He inserted another finger into me with ease. Every movement, every touch, and every stroke, only made my body quiver with pleasure. I was so embarrassed about the noises leaving my mouth, hoping that nobody downstairs could hear me. He sped up his tongue and fingers moving in sync with each other, my body was overtaken by the pleasure and my senses were thrown a very large curve ball, not being able to control myself anymore I moaned wildly, shaking against him. I slowly untangled one of my hands from his hair, digging my nails into his shoulder feeling myself reach my peak of climax, letting out a loud satisfied moan, as Schneider's tongue continued to move rapidly against my clit, his fingers still moving in and out of me. I slowly brought myself down, my back now flat against the mattress, feeling the after shocks of the blissful orgasm. My chest was moving up and down rapidly, as I tried to catch my breath. His fingers slowly pulled out of me, his lips leaving a trail of kisses up to my neck. I could feel his erection pressing up against me through the fabric of his jeans, which caused my hands to quickly trail down his body to undo the metal button. I pushed them down as far as I could, letting him take them off the rest of the way. I trailed my hands up his slightly toned back, lightly tracing his shoulder blades. feeling him pull back a little.

 "Nova...I don't have a condom." He whispered, with disappointment in his voice. I made a quick, and brash decision. 

 "We don't need one." I murmured, realizing that I haven't gotten my period, and there isn't any sign of it coming back, so it seemed like something that would be okay to do. I felt his gaze burn into the side of my cheek, his breath rolling over it. 

 "Are you sure?" He asked worriedly. I turned my head to meet his gaze, giving him a reassuring smile.

 "I've never been so sure about anything in my entire life." I replied, leaning forward to kiss him. He reciprocated, his tongue swirling around mine, All of the sudden the position changed to me being on top of him. I felt embarrassed when his eyes were roaming over me, his hands pushing my hair behind my shoulder, as mine slowly took off his last remaining piece of clothing, revealing his fairly intimidating size, my breath hitched in my throat, fear washing over me. His hands trailed down my back, as I leaned forward, placing my naked body against his, my lips gently nibbling on his neck. I felt him slowly guide the tip against my aching lips. His breath rolled down my back.

 "Nova....Are you really sure about doing this with me?" I pulled back slightly, my green eyes staring into his blue ones. I gave him my answer in one swift motion, by pushing myself onto his member, feeling him slowly glide into me with ease. The both of us let out a satisfying moan in unison, the pleasure hitting us both like a ton of bricks. I closed my eyes, placing my forehead against his shoulder. His hands raced up my back, his fingertips gently tracing circles on my skin, as I slowly began to grind on him, his pulsing phallus gliding in and out of me. I sit up, beginning to bob myself up and down on his erection. I moaned loudly, my eyes rolling into the back of my head as his hands found their way to my butt, his nails digging into my skin. 

 "Oh Nova..." He breathed, one of his hands guiding me in my movements. I whimpered as I tightened myself around him, picking up the speed. Schneider took this as an opportunity to get into a more closer, and intimate position than me being on top. my legs were now against his waist, my breasts pressed up against his chest, my body straddling him still. He gave me a gentle an passionate kiss, the both of us trying to savor the moment of pure pleasure. His hands raked through my hair as I elevated myself, riding him slowly. His moist lips met my neck, tracing down to my breasts. I quickened my pace, his fingers digging into my back. I moaned wildly, feeling another climax building up. He began to moan as well, his body moving up to meet my movements, I began to pant, entangling my fingers into his hair, my clit rubbing against him, adding onto the pleasure that was building up inside of me. Schneider's animistic growls vibrated against my breasts, giving my nipple a playful nip, his lips kissed along the scars from the bullet wound. I began to realize that he was close, his movements quickening, as he began to pound into me, harder and harder, my lips meeting his once again. I felt my nipples harden against his chest, as a glaze of sweat began to form on the both of us, our bodies exchanging the warmth. His nails dragged down against my back, my walls tightening around him even harder as I rode him to our final destination, trying to reach it. I gasped feeling myself begin to twitch, my body buckling against him.

 "Are you close?" He breathed against my neck, gently nibbling and sucking on my neck. I nodded rapidly, letting out a high pitched whimper. Our speed picked up quite quickly, the both of us moaning wildly, not having a care in the world if anyone heard us, because in that moment it was only Schneider and I in our own little world. I felt his hand slip between us, furiously rubbing my clit, dragging me to the brink of orgasm. I gasped, and moaned, my body tensing up against his, as I released myself, feeling a wave of pure pleasure wash over me so gracefully. I rode out my orgasm, Schneider forcefully bobbing me up and down, faster and faster until I felt him release his warm flow into me, while he let out a loud animistic growl against my shoulder. Both of us sat there, intertwined with one another, our sweaty bodies stuck together. Our breathing was heavy, but still in sync with one another, his chest meeting mine every time we tried to catch it. I slowly pulled back, our eyes meeting. He giggled, causing me to do the same, knowing that it was contagious.

 "That was amazing..." He whispered, giving me a light, peck on my lips. I smiled, slowly lifting myself up off him. I laid down, and he did as well, pulling the covers on top of us, the blankets caressing our naked bodies. We faced each other, our hands intertwined with one another, as we moved closer, my legs wrapping around his. I stared into his eyes, reaching my other hand up to run my fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes, letting out a long, heavy breath. 

 "Schneider....I love you so much." I whispered, a smile forming on my lips, my voice cracking in the process. He opened his eyes immediately after hearing my tone. A concerned look appeared on his face.

 "I love you too, but why are your eyes filling with tears...Is there something wrong?" He asked, full of concern and worry. My grip tightened on his hand, my thumb tracing the back of it.

 "I'm just going to miss you so much." I replied, honestly, wiping a tear off my cheek. as he caressed the other side with his large hand.

 "When do you think you'll be leaving?" He pressed. I made my mind up before we slept together, and before I found those box of condoms this morning I was going to tell him.

 "Tomorrow." I murmured. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been so long since I updated this story! I'm so glad that I've gotten something out! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter...It's my first time writing a sex scene, so I hope I did alright! Thanks for reading and I'll be updating this one really soon


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